


Step Bros

by comfortwriter28



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 95,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25859872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comfortwriter28/pseuds/comfortwriter28
Summary: Amber Foley is single and always ready to mingle, Monty Snr. finds himself a widower before fifty. When they decide to tie the knot, they both bring their own child with them into the relationship.Justin and Monty learn how to navigate the ups and downs of life as step brothers with very interesting parents and learn how to redefine their meaning of the word 'brother' and what it means to them in relation to the other.Chapters will not be posted in chronological order!
Relationships: Justin and Monty
Comments: 205
Kudos: 127





	1. He's been good for you

He hears Scott come in sometime around one in the morning, at least he assumes it’s Scott cause no one else knows about this place. He keeps his eyes closed and pretends to be asleep, willing the other boy to believe it so he can at least put off the teasing until tomorrow because he’s now hyper aware that Justin’s head is tucked under his chin and very visible. At least the sleep bag covers the fact that to escape the cold Justin tried to glue them together and is pressed against him so hard that he isn’t sure where he ends and Justin begins. As it is he won’t be surprised if Scott takes a photo for future blackmail, the ass.

He tries to slow his breathing as Scott walks around the little room getting ready for bed, tracks him opening the plastic bin and sorting through to find the sleeping he wants and as he moves his air mattress a little closer to the middle, Monty knows from experience that it’s done in hopes of the center being warmer. Scott will be disappointed, he always is. Even now his back is chilled and his arm, the one he tossed lazily over Justin which he’s also happy Scott can’t see, is outright cold.

Scott lays down after that and Monty thinks it might be the end until he hears, “You’re up aren’t you?”

He tries to keep up the act but Scott knows better somehow.

“Monty? I know you aren’t sleeping.”

He sighs, giving up. “If you wake him up I’ll kill you.”

“Mhm, sure. So what brought you two out here?”

He’d roll his eyes if they were open but part of him is still hanging onto the hope that Scott’ll shut up and goes to sleep except that he won’t. When he gets high not only does he become a philosopher but he also becomes really, really chatty. It’s annoying but it also has helped him out in the past so he can’t totally resent the trait, even if at the moment he wants to throw something at the other guy.

“Heat’s off.”

“And you decided to be cold here on the ground instead of at your place?”

“Amber was high on some nasty shit, pretty manic. Kept pacing the length of the house looking for something and getting angry she couldn't find it.”

“I don’t suppose it was money to get the heat back on?”

He snorts.

“So you and the kid packed up and decided to come here?”

He hesitates for a second and then says. “It bothers him. When she’s like that.”

“More than you old man throwing beer bottles at him?”

He didn’t expect Scott to get it. The other boy may be about the closest thing he has to a best friend besides Justin but his parents, even if they are sad excuses for people and bad parents, aren’t the kind who make Scott understand what it’s like to wonder if he’s going to get pulled out of bed at some ungodly time in the morning and be beaten within an inch of his life. They also aren’t pathetic the way Amber is. He has no idea what it’s like to see someone he loves teeter on the edge of the abyss and wonder if you’re watching the beginning of an insanity that never ends. 

Then again, neither does he, if he didn’t hate Amber so much, he’d feel bad for her. She alternates between moods with speed only the old bastard can match and even though they’re different, they’re no less harmful; at least not to Justin. Her mania tonight was probably caused by meth, at least that’s what her new boyfriend deals so he assumes it’s that. When they left it had manifested in her searching for something. He wasn’t totally sure what for except that she kept repeating “Momma gave it to me. I need to find it for Momma.”

Before that she had been cleaning...sort of. She pulled the vacuum out and switched it on, did a couple of passes but then moved on to dusting a few surfaces, washed some dishes, put away some laundry, cleaned off the coffee table. A host of things that wouldn’t be so pathetic to watch except that each task was started with obsessive enthusiasm and dropped before being even close to done for another. When she moved stuff to clean off one surface, it was invariably to another and not to where they should be, and the dishes she washed, she put back with the dirty ones in the sink. It’s more harm than good for the most part but he can never find it in himself to comment and just lets it happen.

Justin started to help her because of course he would, he always does. Monty thinks it’s wholly out of devotions and love that Amber on a good day doesn't reciprocate in any meaningful way. The joint cleaning had lasted about fifteen minutes and the dishes finally got finished after a week of sitting there but of course Amber had to kill it when she started accusing him of losing something. From there the cleaning devolved into her tearing apart the house looking for whatever it was and Justin retreated to their room. Monty had known then that they were going to need to leave just from the look on Justin’s face but they both had homework to finish and their room did have lights, even if that’s its only claim to fame.

They left when they were finished and he was glad it was before the screaming started. Amber’s manias always follow a pattern. She’ll do things with a lot of energy, cleaning, cooking, looking for things, shopping, anything really. Then they’re always followed by the worst lows. She gets angry and mean. Always at Justin who always accepts the insults with a sad, tired expression that Monty has a feeling comes from years of experience with this. It makes him hate her more than anyone except maybe the old bastard because of how cruel she is.

She doesn’t stop until Justin cries and Justin always tries so hard not to, either by trying to placate her or ignoring her, sometimes outright leaving but when he does that she always threatens to never let him back in. Monty might even believe her when she says that, as far as he can tell she had Justin for one reason alone and that’s to torment him. She’s smart enough to know Justin loves her and that means she’s figured out that separating him from her hurts him. Sometimes she’s even refused to see him for days on end just to cause pain, be in the bathroom when he’s around in the morning, stay out late at night to avoid seeing him after school, sometimes she’s avoided coming home for a whole week when she’s really mad at him.

The anger is sometimes followed by crying. He doesn’t know why and still hasn’t figured out if it’s real sadness, or because she loves the reaction. Justin will sit with her. He rocks her back and forth and whispers kind things to her. Monty hates it because Amber never deserves that kind of attention, especially not because as she wails and flails, Justin’s eyes are usually still red from her making him cry not long before.

“I don’t see how some words could be worse than a glass bottle.”

He wouldn’t either, his parents are both well schooled in the art of words as weapons but Scott is equally well schooled in ignoring them, getting high when he no longer can, and leaving if it reaches that point but physical violence is beyond his comprehension, thankfully. It does mean he’s perpetually confused by Justin’s vulnerabilities.

“To him they are.”

He can hear Scott shift in the dark and cracks an eyelid open to see the other boy observing him. 

“He’s been good for you Monty.”

“Shut up.” If he was more awake and less concerned about waking Justin up, he’d probably put some effort into sounding angry.

“No really. He’s, I don’t know, smoothed out the rough edges I guess, some of them at least. Took off some of that armor you wear. You’re not always as tense. When I met you I thought you’d eventually go postal and kill everyone but I’m not so worried about that anymore. Maybe he mellowed you out or maybe he gave you something to focus on besides how much life sucks or maybe he just gave you a friend to commiserate with but in any case I’m happy you have him.”

He’s about to reply when a voice, thick with sleep and a little bit of irritation slurs out, “ _He_ has a name and is tired and wants to get back to sleep.”

Monty’s glad he gets to see the look on Scott’s face, an interesting mix of embarrassment and surprise. He hadn’t realized Justin woke up and he’d be a little annoyed at Scott for doing it except it’s pretty funny.

The other two settle back down pretty quickly after that and are asleep shortly after but it makes him wonder if he has gotten soft somehow. Scott’s wrong, if anything Justin has added more stress to his life, he has someone else to think about when making decisions and someone else to worry about getting fed and not getting beaten up and Justin is soft so he also has to worry about emotions which is a headache.

He thinks the extra pressure should mean he’s gotten harder and yet Scott isn’t the first person to suggest the opposite. The old bastard mentioned it the other day in a fight, that somehow Justin had made him weaker, not that he makes a habit of believing the old man but obviously if he and Scott, arguably the most oblivious people he knows, said something maybe there is some kind of change.

That worries him. He-this thing he has with Justin is kind of nice. The only person who he’s ever depended on before was Mom and he never really thought he’d find someone like that again. He likes it, the feeling that it’s not him against the world, that there’s one other person who understands personally what’s happening. It probably does make him weaker and yet he might not mind, life does seem a little easier with another set of eyes to look out for problems and Justin can actually read the mood of a room which isn’t something he’s ever been good at.

He ends up nodding off thinking about all of it. He’s never thought of himself as a weak person, he’s always considered himself independent and self reliant and never constrained by loyalty to anyone but himself but maybe he’s wrong and Justin’s the cause. He decides to enjoy it for the moment and see where it goes. Having Justin around makes life worth living instead of just enduring and that seems like a good enough trade off right now.


	2. Long Nights Become Long Days

Monty could fall asleep in nearly anything, a talent developed after years of needing to snatch any sleep possible no matter when or where. It wasn’t that he was a deep sleeper, actually almost anything can wake him up but it’s a spacial thing, the world could end outside the room but as long as the inside was calm, he would sleep on. Any tiny movement or noise in the room would immediately wake him up, no matter how small or insignificant and the door opening always resulted in wakeful alertness, and usually balled fists ready to fight. Learning to share a bed with someone took him a while and for a while he was afraid the choice was learning to sleep through Justin’s movements and everything, or not sleep at all. He eventually mastered sleeping through just Justin preserving his alertness to other things happening but it took longer than he wanted to be able to.

Justin is an even lighter sleeper, prone to waking up from the smallest sounds or movements but he took to sharing a bed much easier, Monty thinks it’s cause it isn’t totally new to him but he never asked. Unfortunately, the younger boy has never been good at sleeping through fighting outside, even with the door closed and locked.

Tonight Monty woke up with Justin ramrod straight and stiff next to him. He doesn’t know why he did but now that he’s up he can feel Justin trembling next to him faintly. It takes a moment for his brain to catch up with the words but when it does he can’t say he’s all that impressed. Amber, the old man, and another man’s voice, he didn’t know she was seeing someone at the moment but it isn’t surprising. Less surprising is that all three of them are screaming as loud as they can and saying whatever shit they can think of.

If he tried harder he could probably figure out more about what was going on but it would only be details. Obviously the old man caught her with another man, whether Amber let herself be caught or not is up for debate, she does it when she really wants to get at him for something, make sure _everyone_ knows she’s with someone else.

At some point he becomes aware that Justin’s breathing is shallow and fast, too fast and he rolls over to see him, face an alarming shade of white and fists clenched at his sides on top of the covers. He moves as fast as he can without alarming him because he knows from experience that Justin can throw a punch when startled and he’s even more likely to accidentally hurt himself.

"Jus."

Wide eyes look at him unseeing. He pulls himself onto his knees. "I need you to sit up for me, can you do that?" His hands are already moving to help him do just that and it takes a little because he has to coax Justin to loosen up first which he does by slowly rubbing his arms and then eventually gets him sitting up, feet on the floor and sitting way straighter than necessary. From there it’s always hard to get Justin to put his head between his knees, he doesn’t know why it works only that Bryce always makes Justin do it with a combination of chiding and mocking uniquely cruel and wholly Bryce. Comments about being too old and wondering how many more times Justin will make him go through this. If Monty didn’t need his help, he might actually kill him on the spot for some of those comments. It does seem to help Justin breathe better though, the positioning not the words and so Monty copies it when he can. It’s easier when Justin doesn’t start in a laying down position but whatever.

He rubs the other boy’s back while he reminds him to slow his breathing down. They go through the exercise together in and count to three, out and count to three. Over and over until Justin leans back against him drained physically and emotionally. The yelling is still going on outside though and Justin’s still tense which is still a problem.

"I’ll be right back." He whispers it in Justin’s ear and even with the warning the other boy still lets out a soft whine when Monty pulls away. He reaches for the window sill and finds his phone, an expensive model, a gift from Bryce. He wishes he didn’t use it but having a smartphone offers a lot of benefits. He had naively thought that with it instead of the old flip phone he had before there would be a few less jokes about the old bastards income and spending habits but Bryce made sure that everyone knew it was a hand me down which if anything made them worse. The other benefits are nice, full keyboard, games, internet, and music.

He grabs the earbuds coiled up next to the phone too and returns to Justin, plugging the earbuds into the jack and offering one to Justin. The other boy takes it with shaking fingers and after several failed attempts, gets it in. Monty puts it on shuffle and lets it play. It’s mostly his songs; rap, punk, some country that not another living soul besides Justin knows he listens to, and a small assortment of nearly everything else but metal. He also has a lot of Justin classic rock and pop songs, the ‘girly shit’ that Bryce and some of the guys mock him for that he and Luke will occasionally belt out seemingly to spite their mockers...but never when Bryce is around, never to spite Bryce.

He turns the volume all the way up and it isn’t even enough to drown out the fighting properly but then again, the practically ancient earbuds aren’t helping sound quality at all. It takes until they reach some ridiculous Beach Boys song that Justin loves for some of the tension to leave Justin but after that a little more seems to erode with every song. They don’t talk; they don’t need to. There isn’t anything to say, this isn’t the first time this has happened and it won't be the last, not by a long shot. But they’re together and Monty keeps an ear out to make sure that whatever happens stays on the other side of that door. When Justin’s fine to be left alone for a minute, Monty moves back to grab their sneakers and sweatshirts, laying them on the bed where Justin can’t see them, not sense in worrying him with what he hopes will be a precaution anyway. The younger boy doesn’t ask when he returns, just offers Monty the other earbud and they resume as if the world outside their door isn’t so familiar it almost isn’t terrifying. 

By the time the war outside has solved itself an Adele song ends and everything is silent. It’s three in the morning. He has a test today that he might have otherwise passed and Justin has morning practice. He wonders if he should text Zach and see if the boy will run interference for Justin and let them sleep in a little later but depending on the nature of the argument and what substances were involved, getting out of the house early might be safer than remaining. 

It’s going to be an awful day. Resentment burns in him for a minute against the ‘adults’ for making them put up with this shit but Justin nuges him and whispers "Thanks. You-you didn’t have to stay up but I’m happy you did."

With a heavy sigh he pulls Justin even closer to him for a moment and rests his chin in the fluffy hair murmuring, "Of course I did, that’s what big brothers are for." Justin lets out a content sigh before Monty pushes him away a little and adds, "Now go to sleep cause they’re also for pulling you out of bed on time."

He gets a lopsided grin as Justin shifts to lay on the bed. Monty returns his phone to the sill and then lays down too. It’s been a rough night and tomorrow will be a rough day and tomorrow night might not be any better. He lays awake looking at the ceiling for a few moments wondering if life is supposed to be more than just struggling to scrape by day in and day out. He shakes it off, if he doesn’t struggle, he dies and somehow that thought terrifies him now. He doesn’t want to die, he’s not ready to yet. So if miserable nights that become miserable days is what it takes, he can do them, and he’s not alone either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, when I posted chapter 1 on Wednesday I didn't think I would get so many people interested and leaving comments, you guys are amazing! As promised, this is the next chapter and another Monty POV chapter, this one being set in the apartment Amber and Monty Sr. buy and move in together. The apartment will be explained more next chapter which will be the 1st chronologically only has one extra bedroom that's too small for two beds hence the brothers share a bed. 
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week, I'm going to try to make Friday my regular update day so be on the look out those days.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy reading and let me know what you think in the comments. Expect more a week from now and a special thanks to De_la_Cruz87 for her help beta reading and her encouragement in pursuing this story.


	3. Step Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His father is a drunk who marries a whore with a brat of her own. He knows how this ends, badly. For him which he cares about, and for them too probably which he doesn't care about.
> 
> This is the first chapter chronologically so you can see the premise I was working off of. Needless to say, Monty doesn't like Justin in the beginning but that changes.

Monty hates the boy next to him more than he hates even his own father. The skinny, blue eyes, wisp of a kid doesn’t belong and everyone there knows it except that it’s Bryce’s house and Bryce’s rules and that means the fucking tag a long is invited. If Bryce weren’t literally the coolest, and richest, of all the freshman, there’s no way he’d be able to get away with having his own personal ass kisser while being a freshman, especially not when the ass kisser is a fucking middle schooler. The more he looks at the younger boy smooth-talking some junior girls, the more he hates him. 

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Three days later the impossible happens. The old bastard gets married and Monty doesn't even need to meet this person to decided he hates her since Mom is the one person that can’t be replaced and whoever this woman is, she won’t live up to the beautiful, wonderful, fierce woman who before she got sick went toe to toe with the old man and won every time.

Seeing the woman for the first time confirms that. She’s pale, her dark hair is so thick it seems to weigh her head down, a cigarette dangles from her fingers. Mom was tanned, fair haired and strong, not weighed down by something as light as hair. She never smoked or drank, she didn’t need to, she was a force of nature who’s problems ran from her, not the other way around. This woman’s eyes are dead, somehow deader than Mom’s when she was dead. In life hers had been bright and mischievous, lively and happy and kind. This woman is a pathetic creature. 

Somehow it gets worse though, she lazily tells him that she’s working on getting lunch ready for all four of them and it’s that moment things finally click in his mind. There is only one woman in the entire city who could ever date his dad, much less marry him and it’s Amber Foley. He’s never met her in person, until now at least, but he has ears and it isn’t hard to figure out she’s a cheap whore and an addict. It also means that in addition to this miserable woman, he’s gained-

"Mom did you hea- Monty?"

Fuck

He turns around and there he is, the fucking tag a long. All curly haired and big eyed looking at him surprised and maybe a little hopeful. He growls in response and the boy’s expression turns to one of unhappiness. It’ll do for now. Amber looks surprised that they know each other but what the fuck does he care. 

The old man walks in a minute later and Monty thinks this might be the closest to ‘happy to see him’ he’s ever felt. The hulking monstrosity puts an end to any conversation for a few minutes.

Lunch as it turns out is hotdogs, not fully heated all the way through and ketchup that smells a little funny, he skips the buns, they don’t look right. Adult beverages for the adults are present, not that he’s surprised, but he is disgusted to see that she keeps up with him. He accidentally catches the runt’s eye and he offers a grim, somewhat amused smile. Monty curls his lip and snarls, the runt looks away.

The rest of the day is agony between the two drinking and screaming, sometimes happy, sometimes angry. Dinner is predictably a trainwreck but somehow the meal ends without fists flying. That’s when the worst news comes. Sometime after the meal, Amber very happily leads him down the hall chattering about him going to bed so the adults can have fun. He’s almost impressed she’s still forming sentences after how much she’s had. She opens a door and pushes him in, closing it behind him. The room is small and cramped. It’s got a bed, the head of which is pushed up against a window and dresser between the foot of the bed and the door. Other than that, there’s nothing else but there isn’t room for anything else either. In fact, the door only has enough space to open without hitting the dresser. Of course the runt is sitting on the bed, looking at him with apprehension, good. 

"Where the fuck is the other bed." Anger starts rising, he doesn’t like what he thinks is about to be said and even thinking that it could be true makes him start seeing red.

The tag a long looks away and mumbles something about there not being space or money.

He turns and storms down the hall, banging on the door where the old bastard and Amber are and what follows is an angry exchange between him and his barely clothed father which ends in him storming out.

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As he enters the hobo hotel he becomes aware of someone watching him and with a growl whirls around to find Scott looking at him from under a pile of blankets, sleeping out in the open air.

Rolling his eyes he takes a seat on the other mat and toes off his sneakers, pulls off his sweatshirt and bundles it up to use as a pillow and roughly grabs the heavy blanket from the plastic box in the middle of the room.

"You’re angry."

He growls again and glares at the other boy in the fading sun, sizing him up before demanding, ‘What are you doing here?"

"My parents were fighting, got tired of listening to them. You?"

"None of your business."

Scott shrugs and lays back down over the mat and asks, "Your old man start drinking when angry again?"

"He got married." Monty doesn’t know why he says it other than that he wants someone to complain to and that means Scott. Never someone else, Scott is the only person in the world who could even sort of understand.

"No shit? Who?"

"Amber Foley."

"Ew."

"That’s not the worst part."

"What could be worse than Amber Foley?"

"The fucking tag a long is her kid."

"No way. How did he come from her?"

"They want us to share a bed."

Scott’s silent for a minute and then says, "Are you still at your dad’s place?"

"New apartment."

"And they didn’t splurge for three bedrooms?"

He rolls his eyes even though it’s dark and Scott can’t see. "It’s a shitty place, that big building on 50th, I can’t figure out why they went for it except that it was cheap."

"The one with the fire escapes that everyone says are ugly?"

"Yea."

"That’s rough. At least it’s closer to here."

He scowls even though it’s too dark for Scott to see. He doesn’t want the bright side of things, he wants vindication from the world. Instead he’s now got two more people to deal with, a crack whore and a runt. The old bastard is going to find out easily that she doesn’t love him and he’ll be in a shit mood for a long time and that means a lot of things but the worst is more drinking which means less money and more violence. The money has to be split between food and bills and now two more mouths are going to look to be fed which is another pain in the ass cause he’s not about to eat less for them.

Eventually the anger can’t do anything but come out physically. He’s smart enough to know not to punch anything here. Instead he gets up and paces madly, trying to burn off some of the rage burning inside of him. 

It doesn’t work but he knew it wouldn’t cause it never does. The only answer to anger like this is to hit something or even better, someone. Fortunately for Scott though, he’s probably the only person who could ever get out unscathed from one of these moods. Back and forth on the dirt floor stomping the ground as he walks, faster and faster as the anger burns in him.

"Why the fuck do assholes get married!"

"Cause they love each other."

He whirls around. "Stop with that Disney shit. People don’t love each other. My old man hates everyone and everything and Amber is a cheap whore who doesn't love anyone but herself. You’re parents don’t love each other and have you seen the Walkers?"

"Didn’t your dad love you mom?"

That takes a little fight out of him but then he growls, "So one in four, great fucking record what’s everyone else's excuse?"

"Money, status, making kids, carrying on the family name, and my parent’s loved each other at some point."

"Which is why they fight so bad you’re sleeping on the dirt floor in some rundown shack."

"I said at some point. Love doesn’t always last forever."

"Then why fall in it in the first place."

"I don’t think most people know when they fall in love they’ll fall out of it. My parents didn’t know they’d face mediocre lives in jobs they hate or that their only kid would be a good for nothing. Really if they had stayed in love I’d be impressed."

"Well they should have just skipped it and saved themselves the trouble."

"I’m glad they didn’t, living is pretty nice."

He snorts. "I’m not, we’d both be better off if we hadn’t been born and it would have been better for everyone else too. We’d never have to deal with their bullshit and we’ll never have to end up like them when we grow up."

Scott is silent for a moment and then. "Go to sleep Monty."

"What." His temper almost comes back cause how dare someone tell him what to do even if he is being an ass.

"You’re going to get sick if you keep pacing around."

Oh. The ground is pretty cold, his socks are too thin to keep it out. He moves back to his mat and lays down, pulling the blanket over him. Sleep comes easier than expected but maybe only cause the day was so stressful. If this is going to be life from now on, he’s going to spend a lot more time here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a new chapter and thank you all so much again. I'm astounded by the amount of comments I'm getting on this story! As I mentioned in the summary, this is the first chapter in the timeline which explains the radical difference in behavior and feelings for the characters, namely Monty. I wanted to post this one to show how far they come eventually but also to establish the setting of their apartment where a lot of chapters will take place. A living room and kitchen that are basically one room divided only where carpet ends and tile starts. And past that a hallway that leads to s bathroom and two bedrooms, a master and the tiny one they share. The bedroom's defining characteristic is that it's small, too small for a 2nd bed so they have to awkwardly share the same one, a small closet and a smaller dresser at the foot of the bed for clothes.
> 
> Next chapter should be up Friday, I said that would be my next post but I wanted to get this one up because it's sort of important for setting one of the most important locations for the story. Next chapter will probably be a Justin POV chapter but I haven't decided which one yet so I can't give any more details on it.
> 
> Hopefully you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments. Also big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for her help beta reading!


	4. Cat and Mouse:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin plays a dangerous game, but he plays it for Monty so the stakes are worth it.

Two days of Monty being sick and Justin can officially say that he’d rather be sick than have someone else sick. He despises when he comes down with stuff and it happens to him several times a year no matter what he does; there doesn’t seem to be enough handwashing, hand sanitizer, clean habits, or disinfecting wipes to keep him safe from his annual fight with the flu and he’ll usually pick up at least a few other bugs along the way so he’s an expert in being sick and all that comes with it. Not drawing attention, staying out of the way, managing to eat and drink enough to get better but not enough to throw up large amounts, risk assessment of what food is too far gone versus what might do in a pinch but not make him sicker...he’s mastered it all.

What he isn’t an expert in, is helping someone else when they’re sick but that’s exactly the situation he’s in. On Thursday, he woke up freezing and discovered it was because Monty stole the blankets which was annoying but only mildly. When he went to get them back, he found Monty burning to the touch. 

He remembers parts of the next two days in exhaustion numbed detail of trying his best to keep Monty comfortable, hydrated, and medicated all while staying on a budget that didn’t really exist and while keeping Mom, Lou, and Dad. away from their door. It was working okay when it was just a fever to contend with but the puking makes things harder because even he can’t really stealthily wash a bowl full of puke but getting Monty into the bathroom to throw up is even harder. 

They got lucky last night with the house to themselves and the day before Dad was at a construction site so they only had to worry about Mom, who Justin let ‘find’ his weed stash. That kept her mellow for most of the day and it wasn’t until much later that she brought Lou over and the man didn’t make too much of a problem besides threatening to crack Justin’s head like an egg if he came into the living one more time. He was asleep the next time Justin needed to which was nice.

This morning the only luck they’ve had is Mom and Lou not being here.Dad is lingering in his room sulking over a rumor about Mom is with the foreman which Monty says the men started hoping to get the foreman fired. Justin wishes they hadn’t. Dad is at his most dangerous when his drinking is fueled by sulking and it’s only a little past noon but Justin thinks he’s gone through a case and a half of beer and a bottle of whiskey, leaving so many emptied bottles outside his door that he’ll probably trip over later and set himself off.

The only ‘good’ thing the sulking is doing is for the moment keeping him in the master bedroom so as long as Justin goes to and from his room quietly, he won’t run into the man. Monty’s throwing up a little less since they woke up and his fever is coming down so Justin thinks it’s about time to break out the gatorade and try to replenish electrolytes and maybe Monty can keep it down this time. He’s in the kitchen getting some when he hears screaming from down the hall.

"You piece of shit I should have killed you ages ago!"

Justin nearly drops the bottle he’s grabbed as he darts back to the room. He gets as far as the hall where Monty is at the bathroom door covered in puke and his dad, also covered in puke, is attempting to smack him. The only reason it’s not going totally against Monty is that no amount of alcohol tolerance means anything at seven at night when the drinking started before noon. Still there’s no way the lack of coordination on the seniors part is going to make up for the fact that the junior is way too sick to walk a straight line, much less fight off a grown man.

He sees the look of fear on Monty’s face and forms a plan fast. He flings the gatorade bottle, sorry to waste it if it breaks but it’s heavy enough to get the man’s attention if it smacks into him. And it does, striking home and causing him to whirl around. The look of rage any other day might make him wilt. Today it bolsters his resolve. He carefully doesn’t look at Monty, not willing to see his fear.

"Hey fuck face! My mom’s about to do your foreman, she asked if you wanted to come watch since you’d probably like it! Says some big black dick would make up for the millimeter Peter you have!"

A howl of rage and Justin takes off. He’s out the door by the time the man reaches the living room. He’s at the stairs then taking three at a time on the way down. Then he's out the door of the apartment complex. The whole time the almost unearthly howls of rage remind him that if he stops he’s probably actually going to die. It spurs him to keep running even though he’s only wearing socks and left his phone and keys inside and has no idea what to do next because the plan was only to get the man out of the house. He yells a few more insults to fuel the fire. If Dad gets bored and goes back, he’ll take out the anger on Monty and he can’t let that happen.

He’s down the block and can still hear the wild rage behind him as he tries to pick up his pace and rounds a corner. He goes down that block and doesn’t think to go into one of the stores until Monty Sr. has rounded the corner and could see him. He darts out into the street against the light and nearly gets hit. The driver rolls down their window long enough to let out a stream of curses but neither those nor the blaring car horns mask the man still tailing him.

His lungs burn, his legs feel like they’re on fire, and his feet hurt like hell. He keeps running.

He has to hand it to the man, apparently all the years in construction have served to build up impressive endurance and the alcohol isn’t really slowing him down either. They’re five blocks from home now and Justin dips into the park. It’s ugly and unpopular, a gamble. There won’t be anyone in here to witness his last moments but it also means if he’s going to ditch the man it’s going to be here.

He leads him further in, the grunts of anger and pounding of feet on the ground let him know the man is still following. He leaps over a low retaining wall wishing he had the lung capacity to yell something at the man but he can barely breathe right now, the cold air burns on it’s way in. 

Then he gets to what he wants, the bridge, an overpass for cars on top and a tunnel on the bottom for another lane of traffic running perpendicular but on lower ground. Inside is totally dark and Justin flies through it but as soon as he comes out on the other side he scrambles up the embankment while the path continues straight into another tunnel, on the other side of that splitting into two different branches. The darkening sky shrouds the world as the sun dips lower. This either goes his way here or...well he’d rather not think about that.

He clears the top just as the man explodes out of the darkness and continues on the path without looking anywhere else. 

His legs are jelly as he sinks to the ground, sucking in air as fast as he can in long ragged gasps. Everything hurts and the adrenaline is wearing off so now he can feel it all the more. Still he doesn’t dare remain there for too long, he has to get home so that if Dad ends up going back, Justin’s already beaten him there to lock the door.

The walk back is nothing short of painful. His lungs still hurt, legs barely support his weight and his feet are a cut up mess . The walk back seems to take an eternity even though he ran it in a few minutes. He gets a few odd looks but ignores them. He almost takes the elevator up to their apartment but he still doesn't trust it after the time he and Monty spent close to an hour stuck in there so he drags himself up one stair at a time.

When he gets to their floor, the door is still wide open; when he gets in Monty’s on the couch. The older boy’s head snaps up when he hears someone enter and he’s pale under his freckles and fever flush. Justin didn’t know what he expected but the curse laced tirade that he gets isn’t it.

"What the fuck were you thinking you little idiot! You must actually be as stupid as everyone says. What the fuck is wrong with you!"

He might be scared if Monty didn’t look like he might pass out and after he locks the door and moves further into the apartment, he finds the other boy still covered in vomit. 

He opens his mouth to reply but Monty isn’t done yet, "If you ever do something bone headed like that again I’ll beat the shit of you, you understand? I mean it never try something that fucking stupid ever again or I’ll-"

A sob interrupts and it’s only then that he realizes Monty is crying. Monty never cries, it’s always him. He’s always the baby doing that but Monty is strong and brave and better than he’ll ever be, tough, but not cold like lots of people think. He moves closer and despite the puke covered shirt, he ends up holding the other boy as he starts crying in earnest. Justin thinks part of it is frustration since Monty’s still too sick to do much but it isn’t until the has cried himself out and remains leaning against him that he gives a reason in a tired mumble, "If you make me worry like that again-"

He leaves the threat hanging and Justin can’t help but defend himself, "I-I wanted to look out for you and keep you safe like you always do for me." He can’t help as his voice cracks when he finishes. "I thought you’d be proud of me."

"I’m always proud of you, just not when you do something stupid like that."

He’s torn between the elation of hearing Monty say that and discomfort at what it implies. Carefully he says, "You’d do the same for me."

A snort. "I’m the big brother, I’m allowed and required and privilaged to do stupid shit for your welfare. It isn’t a two way street, that’s not part of the deal."

"Fuck the deal. You’re worth it and what was I supposed to do? Let him beat the shit out of you?"

Monty doesn’t have a reply at first and when he finally does it’s a signal that the conversation is over. "Help me to the bathroom, I’m sick of smelling like my own puke."

He does but he also knows the change in topic is only cause Monty’s just too tired to carry on the argument. He’s too stubborn to be convinced this easily but too sick to have the energy he’d need to keep on fighting. He almost opens his mouth to try to force the point but doesn’t. Monty’s never been someone to put a lot of stock in words, he prefers actions so Justin’ll just have to think of some way to convince him that he’s worth more than he’ll ever know. It isn’t an enviable task but he’ll manage...hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. This time Justin is our narrator. I should note, when he says 'Dad' he's referring to his step father, so Monty's dad and it's something he'll keep up for many chapters. This is also maybe the 1st sick fic I've written in over a year that hasn't been for Justin so good for him! But then again giving how it goes, maybe not. 
> 
> I think next chapter will be out on Tuesday, then another a week from today and then switch to weekly schedule. I have so many chapters written in a google doc that it takes several minutes to load the 200 pages and typing in it is slowed down too so I want to get some of them out and into a different doc to speed up the one I'm working in.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments, I love hearing your feedback and observations. Also a special thanks to De-La-Cruz87 for all of her help in writing this!


	5. Is it Theft if it’s a Family Member?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin walks in on his mom ransacking his room. Just because he isn't surprised doesn't mean he's happy about it.

“Mom? What are you doing?” Justin leans against the doorframe of his room looking in as the woman in question tips the cheap mattress that he and Monty sleep on off the bed and onto the floor. 

At his voice she starts so violently that she nearly slams into the wall behind her and turns to him, eyes wild and scratching her arm anxiously. Seeing him she seems to calm down a bit and replies, “I was just cleaning, baby. Room needs tidying up.”

He bites his tongue and doesn’t say any of the first things that come to mind. Seth left her about three days ago, using his usual bullshit line about the ‘working conditions’ of the apartment being hostile and not conducive to his plans. Justin’s not too surprised since Big Monty did beat the shit out of him around that time but it doesn’t make the excuse any less annoying since the man will be back again. He still hasn’t decided why Seth always returns, if it’s cause the ‘working conditions’ are better than he makes the out to be, if being able to sponge money from other people makes his life that much easier, if he secretly has a death wish, or if he’s just an ass who likes ruining the lives of as many people as he can. 

Regardless of Seth’s motivations for leaving, Mom’s are obvious, she’s only in here to ‘borrow’ money. Their room is too small to be messy and need cleaning and right now, has more stuff on the floor than when he left for school this morning. No she’s here for money; his, Monty’s, doesn’t matter as long as she can get enough of it to get her fix. 

“Thank you, looks good.” It totally doesn’t but that’s beside the point.

“I’m not done yet baby, maybe you can leave and come back in a few.”

The desperation hurts as much as the blatant lie but he sucks in a breath and tries to remind himself that she’s the adult here and should be taking care of herself and not the other way around. The funny thing is that when Monty gives the advice it seems much more believable than him repeating it to himself. Still he says, “Sorry Mom, I need the room ca-”

There’s a crunching sound as she steps on something in her rush across the room and she’s in his face before he can do anything, eyes back to wild and slightly dangerous. 

“Get out! I need to clean! Go, go, go.” 

She’s shrieking, it’s shrill and hurts his ears but he replies anyway. “No.” He wishes his voice could still be calm and level but it cracks a little.

Another shriek, this time as much rage as desperation and he reaches out to her slowly. “C’mon. Let’s go watch TV.”

Pain. Sudden and sharp and he realizes she’s clawing his face. “No! I’m your mother! You don’t get to tell me what to do!”

Through the pain he manages to grab hold of her as gently but firmly as he can and spin them around so he’s inside the room and her outside. After that he closes the door and barricades it. His face is bleeding and it hurts but the best he can do is grab some rags and try to staunch the bleeding. It would be nice to get to the bathroom and wash his face but he can’t risk leaving and letting her back in.

When he’s satisfied he’s no longer dripping blood, he texts Monty and tells him to come in through the window when he gets back from practice and then looks around the room. It’s a mess. He and Monty joke that the only reason that their room is as clean as it is is because they don’t have the room to make a mess, Mom just killed that idea. Upside is that they’re apparently neater than they thought, downside is now he has to restore order to the room. Clothes from the dresser are thrown about, everything they store under the bed is all pulled out and the closet looks like it’s thrown up.

Groaning, he sets about fixing the bed first, hauling the mattress back on and remaking it completely. Then he starts making space on the floor by putting things under the bed, the spare comforter and some of their summer clothes that they aren’t using now, along with some sports equipment that doesn’t fit anywhere else.

He’s in the middle of tackling the closet which is by far the hardest when Monty comes in, looking panicked and out of breath which then changes to annoyed.

“You didn’t answer your phone and what happened to your face?”

He blushes a little and reaches up to the bed to grab it. Several missed messages, all from Monty all asking in increasingly worried fashion if he’s alright.

“I was cleaning and didn’t hear it go off. I’m sorry. Mom had a bit of a fit.”

The mess around the room is enough to prove he’s telling the truth and with a sigh Monty sets about putting away what belongs in their dresser and with both of them working on it, the job gets done faster.

Monty breaks the silence once they’re finished, “You said it was Amber?”

He nods and then the other boy shakes his head, disgusted. He almost opens his mouth to defend her but even he can’t find a good enough argument as to why she should be in here trying to find their money.

When Monty speaks again it’s cool and determined, “Neither of them are cleaning us out again.”

Justin can almost believe it, coming from Monty. All of the adults in the house have taken turns taking their money, usually Mom, but occasionally Big Monty when he needed money for bills or more often booze and some of the boyfriends have taken advantage of them being at school to raid their room for money when in need of a quick fix. He and Monty tried everything to hide it too, at the bottom drawers or the back corner of the closet early on, then in the mattress and under the bed, even under a section of carpet pulled up in the corner of the room or stuffed in socks under the bed.

None of it mattered, the two of them were away from the room for at least eight hours a day during school and usually more and the room was too small to have many options no matter how creative they get. Finally they bought a lock box but not even that was enough because someone, they still aren’t sure if it was Mom or Jean, the man she was dating at the time, took the whole box and had it opened a pawn shop, then left the cracked open box in their room. Whoever it was they shared the cocaine they bought with the other and Justin really thought Monty was going to murder someone that night.

It wasn’t until Monty got the jeep that they finally had somewhere relatively secure to keep their money and even then Monty told Mom that he’d rather a stranger steal from them if the car was broken into than she got it. It hadn’t been a smart move and they had needed to vacuum about three times before either was confident all the shattered glass was off the floor. There wasn’t anything they could do about the holes in the wall from where the bottles shattered against them.

Unfortunately, even though the money was usually safe in the car, their room still got turned on its head once in a while when someone really needed the money, or thought they did, and tore everything apart looking for any amount they could get. 

Monty speaks again, pulling him from his thoughts. “I’m sorry I was angry with you. When you didn’t reply I was expecting the worst and when it wasn’t that I got frustrated.”

He shakes his head. “No, you’re right. I shouldn’t drop bombs on you like that and then not reply. I’d have been worried and annoyed if we were switched.”

Monty accepts that, surprisingly since he always insists it’s his job to worry about both of them as the oldest. They lapse into silence after that and set about doing homework as best they can in the small space. Leaving the room seems like a bad idea although Monty does go out the window to get antiseptic for his face which hurts but looks much worse than it is. He’ll probably have to make up a story about cats or something for school tomorrow.

Shaking his head he tries to focus on his English but he honestly couldn’t care less about Holden Caulfield’s problems, they seem laughably small compared to his and Monty’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been trying to establish the important relationships in this story with the opening chapters and I'm almost through, this chapter deals with Amber and sets up the last family relationship. Naturally she's just the best mom in the world and wants to help her son by cleaning his room. 
> 
> On a less sarcastic note, next chapter should be out Friday and be the last 2 relationships I want to set up so expect an update then.
> 
> Happy reading and let me know what you think! Special thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for all her help!


	6. Tale of Two Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora Walker likes to think she knows the world by now, she’s lived in it long enough and been subjected to it’s whims for so long that she doubts much can surprise her. And yet, it isn’t her husband who remains predictable or her son who she prefers not to think about, but his friends who seem to prove her wrong.

"You seem sad."

Nora nearly drops her cup of water as she spins around. Justin Foley, barefoot in sweatpants and a shirt that are almost certainly her son’s stands looking at her with large, sad eyes. Clenched in one hand is an empty cup and the other a bottle of motrin he must have picked up from the bathroom.

"Shouldn’t you be home?" Despite trying to soften the words with her tone, they’re cruel but at the same time, Bryce is sick so really Justin has no business being here. 

She gets a noncommittal shrug and then a gentle plea of, "Bryce only has a little fever, he’ll be fine soon enough."

She opens her mouth to say small fever or not her son can do without him for a few days but then the full implication of the words hit her. He thinks she’s worried about Bryce and his sickness. She doesn’t have the heart to tell him she barely cares. Bryce is temperamental and prone to more cruelty than usual when he’s sick. She’d prefer to avoid him for the most part and be spared remarks that normally would only come from Barry on his most callous days. That it isn’t serious means she doesn’t have to feel guilty for doing so. Bryce will be fine in a day or two with her nursing or not.

Apparently she isn’t needed either because Justin is here to do it anyway. She sighs, somehow she wonders how all of this happened. The beginning is easy enough, in the fourth grade, they became friends and for a few years Justin brought out the best in her son. Bryce was less haughty and imperial with Justin around, the boy seemed to temper the parts of him most like his father and Justin’s obviously dubious home life made sure he was around almost on demand if Bryce wanted or needed him. 

No, that part was easy, where it went wrong was much harder to track because once upon a time when Bryce called Justin his brother it was with a tender sweetness he never showed another living soul and that made Justin glow and they were good for each other. And now when he calls Justin ‘brother’ it’s only to manipulate the boy. After six years of knowing Justin, she understands a lot about him, more than her own son due to his openness and one of the things she knows is Justin’s desire for affection, physical and verbal, is so easy to exploit that it’s sad. 

Of course she wonders if thinking in terms of exploiting it makes Bryce as much her son as his father’s because exploiting it is exactly what Bryce does these days. Any time Justin seems to be on the verge drifting away from Bryce, all her son needs to do is prey on that vulnerability, a soft word, a rough, one armed ‘manly’ hug, maybe, very rarely, a ruffling of his hair like from when they were younger that could almost be mistaken for a sign of real affection.

"Of course he will be, it’s just been a trying day." And it’s true but not for the reasons Justin will assume. She confirmed today, via accidentally tipping Barry’s brief case of something she long suspected, an affair. Flowery stationery sprayed with perfume and love letters written on them is as concrete of proof as she needs. That he picked his secretary was so sickeningly cliche she almost called him right then to express her disappointment at his lack of originality. Instead she had waited until his lunch to confront him but his reply had been unsurprisingly indifferent.

The boy now offers her a sympathetic smile, shy but sympathetic. "I can help Bryce until he’s better. You don’t-I mean I’m sure seeing him sick is hard for you."

She almost replies without thinking but thankfully quashes any such response before it ever comes out. She has no illusions, as long as Justin thinks she loves her son, the boy will be the most open and helpful child she’s ever met, if he ever learned how she really felt about the boy he worshiped...well it would be easy enough for her to deal with it by ignoring him like Barry did but the boy could be surprisingly creative in his schemes, the live toad in Barry’s shoe after an off hand but cruel criticism to Bryce is proof enough.

So she thanks him and excuses herself, off to her room intent on taking an aspirin and maybe a nap. Still she wonders how much it says about her that she finds herself wishing Bryce was more like Justin, less fake charm and more natural, maybe cruel if the mood struck but only for the sake of loyalty, and kind without expecting reward for it.

She pushes the thoughts aside. Bryce is her son, Bryce and no one else. And any faults he may have are equal parts her own fault as they are Barry’s and Bryce’s. Maybe if she had been a better mother, Bryce would have turned out different, but she wasn’t and he is who he is, even if most days that seems for the worse.

13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW

Nora watches the boy across from her and doesn’t understand. Explaining Justin is painfully easy, the boy wears his heart proudly out in the open. He loves Bryce and that has dictated all of his actions for most of the time she’s known him. Then came Monty and Justin loves him just as fiercely and now love for both of the older boys dictates his actions.

But Monty himself isn’t nearly as transparent. He might even be the most opaque person she’s ever met, a series of contradictions wrapped up in one human. Most of the time he’s neutral, empty almost. She’s seen him deal with startling amounts of abuse from her own son, from their friends, never from Justin, but certainly from her husband. He usually takes it in stride, replies with surprisingly dry humor and if at all. And then sometimes he gets angry and his anger frightens her. It’s horrifying, explosive, destructive, and not easily soothed. As frightening as the anger itself is, the worst part is how sudden it can be. Monty can go from calm to nuclear with dizzying speed and she can’t help but fear that someday Bryce will earn a part of it he can’t handle and that he’ll deserve it.

And yet the biggest oddity isn’t the terrifying wrath, it’s his willingness to come back. Oh she figured out a long time ago that things aren’t right with Justin and now with Monty too and she knows that’s where Bryce holds power over Monty yet Monty isn’t the kind of person who’s pride could tolerate the kind of insults Bryce sometimes levels at him. And despite all of it, he willingly comes back, and often.

Discreetly watching him do his homework at her table doesn’t magically yield any answers to her questions, not that she expected it would. It does convince her he’s high, the smell of weed more noticeable now that she’s been in here longer. Finally she says, "You don’t like my son, why are you here?"

The boy looks up from his homework and she’s almost startled by the hardness of his eyes, they’re cold, apathetic even, and very jaded, and yet not surprised enough. "You don’t like him either."

Of course he would somehow know and say as much. "I’m his mother."

If black humor could be an expression, she thinks it would be this, a twisted smile, almost mocking and it doesn’t reach his eyes. The expression says more than any words ever could. He must know too because he doesn’t reply verbally and tilts his head back down to the work in front of him.

"He’s my son, no matter his faults I accept him as he is."

"Accept isn’t far from tolerate."

Somehow even without all of Justin’s innocent charm, Monty still cuts as deep, and with fewer words. "Maybe, but you have no such connection. He’s my son until the day he dies and I’m his mother until the day I die. Friends can come and go but family doesn’t."

He glances up from his page long enough to offer her an unconvinced look. "Family doesn’t have to last any longer than friends. If it weren’t for Bryce would you put up with your husband?"

"That’s none of your business."

"Maybe not but I don’t think you would. You’re not happy about the other woman, or women, and you know what he is probably better than anyone. I think you’d happily divorce him if it wasn’t for Bryce."

"If I don’t love my son like you allege, why would his presence make a difference in this situation to me?" Now she’s honestly curious, wondering where he’s going with this and surprised by how long the conversation has lasted and how much Monty has said. She doesn’t think he’s ever talked to her so much; it must be the weed.

His response is disappointing, a shrug and an admission, "Not sure but I think it’s true. No matter how you feel about Bryce you won’t leave your husband because of him."

Her disappointment at the lackluster response turns to more curiosity when he continues after a moment. "Maybe you just hope if you stay you can keep Bryce from being like his dad."

Her blood chills at his next comment. "Not that it matters."

"Montgomery, do you know something about Bryce?"

He shugs and goes back to his work.

Left to her own thoughts about the dark comment she finished her drink and washes the cup. It isn’t until she’s about to leave that Monty mumbles something.

"Excuse me?" 

"You asked why I’m here if I don’t like Bryce; the answer is for Justin."

And really somehow she should have known as much because Justin seems to be about the only person Monty would ever risk anything for. Cold and cynical, jaded and far too old before his time, Monty is a monster waiting to happen and yet Justin seems to bring out the best in him like he used to bring out the best in Bryce once upon a time, before Bryce outgrew him as a brother and started using him as a show pony. She wonders if his comments on family mean he’s started to do the same but somehow she doubts it. Monty is capable of monstrous things but this conversation proves Justin can temper those impulses, even if unintentionally.

Now she has a new fear though, Monty might just be willing to do anything for Justin and some day that may involve paying her son back for all his abuse on the younger boy. It terrifies her almost as much as the thought that, as Monty implied, he’s already more like his father than even she knows. The two together could someday make a dangerous situation. Worse, Bryce would probably deserve it but she would still take his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the final point of view character is Nora Walker and she's an odd choice so hear me out here for a moment. Bryce is an important character in the worlds of both Justin and Monty, he's the rich friend who's money makes the brother's lives easier but at the same time is a scum bag. I need him to be in the story, and I need a 3rd POV character but Bryce is gross and smarmy and I can't do him as a POV. Which brings me to Nora who is a middle ground, close to Bryce, impartial observer, and I've always enjoyed doing a parents POV but the brothers parents are not the kind I enjoy. I've written several Nora chapters that will be intersperses throughout the narrative and I hope you enjoy them because I like writing her, it's sort of a break from Monty and Justin to help me come up with new ideas for them but not enough that I move too far from the story. Her chapters will largely center around her relationships with her husband and son as well as Monty and Justin so expect the brothers to show up in her chapters.
> 
> So I'm going to start working soon and I have no idea what my time for writing is going to look like. Luckily I have like 20 chapters already written so I may drop down to a Friday only schedule but I should be up to posting weekly for a long time yet so look then for updates.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy, thank you all for the wonderful comments, they brighten up my day more than you know. Thank you De_La_Cruz87 for proof reading, inspiration, and all the other help too!


	7. Perspectives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite being brothers...step brothers, Monty and Justin are different and that comes across clearest in how they perceive and interact with the world. It also affects how they perceive the other, especially when that brother isn't around to defend themself.

Monty’s sitting in the library because it’s quiet or at least it’s supposed to be. He has lunch right now but money’s been tight lately and he didn’t think he could stand watching the guys eat and he’s more tired than hungry anyway. The library seemed the best place to close his eyes for forty minutes but shortly afer he got here, Clay fucking Jensen came in with a chip on his shoulder and the need for the whole damn world to know so instead of getting a power nap, he’s stuck listening to this idiot’s problems that he doesn’t care about.

It seems unfair that anytime he raises his voice in this room Twilight Chick is always around to shush him but the one time she would be useful, she’s not here. He was doing a decent job of ignoring him earlier but apparently as Jensen gets more agitated, he gets louder so before he was only catching every few words but now he’s hearing all of it.

“Oh yea, I’m sure life for him at the top must be so hard. I bet he laughs at how easy every day is, going to school and being adored by most of the people there, having girls fall at his feet. Everyone thinks he’s just the fucking greatest thing in the world and none of them realize he’s peaking in high school and is going to end up like Ed. Star quarterback in high school, electrician thirty years.”

There’s a pause and he assumes the poor victim of this rant is trying to inject a dose of logic into this idiot’s thinking. He’s being an ass for no reason though, Zach’s alright and probably not peaking now while Ed Mayer is a very successful electrician who’s risen from poverty to lower middle class on honesty and hard work; the man should be praised instead of looked down on. He and the old bastard are the same age and the jealousy runs deep but is probably all one sided. He’s never met Ed but he assumes the man has totally forgotten the old bastard as he should.

“So? They’re all the same and secure job or not, it isn’t going to make him rich like his friends. He’s going to become a fixture of this place and rot here.”

He frowns. Zach is super rich, even if he’s got more class about it than Bryce ever will. He’s the quarterback though, they have back ups but he doubts someone like Jensen knows them.

“And when he and fucking Jessica are together you can hear them from a mile away, like we get it you’re both supposedly super hot and super in love but I don’t need to hear you swapping spit from down the hall.”

He’s on his feet and heading towards the idiot without hearing any more, probably because the blood is thundering in his ears is louder than the stupidity falling from the idiots gaping mouth. It only takes a minute of looking to find Jensen. He’s sitting at one of the tables in the back and he approaches, intent on breaking his stupid, self rightous, narrow minded face but stops short when he sees Tony also at the table. Shit. He’s one scary bastard on his own but he also has a small army of family who are all similarly scary.

Before he can decide to be smart about this, Jensen continues running his mouth, “I just wish people would smarten up. Behind his stupid, pretty face and nice smile is an asshole with no redeeming qua-”

He drops a hand onto Clay’s shoulder and squeezes hard. It’s a poor substitute for knocking teeth out but he’ll take what he can get; his side is still aching and he’s not looking for a beatdown at school.

“Want to finish that sentence Jensen?”

The squeak is almost rewarding enough to make up for not sucker punching this asshole.

Jensen is obviously tongue-tied at being caught acting like the dick he is so instead Tony replies with a polite. “Monty.”

He ignores him in favor of squeezing a little harder and feeling Jensen squirming. Punk. He wouldn’t survive outside his safe, sheltered little island. It makes him angrier because this ass has never had a hard day in his life, never had to worry about any real problems but he’s so sure his problems are harder than Justin’s just because he can’t see past his own petty worries.

“I didn’t think so. Listen you piece of shit, next time you think everyone needs to hear about your problems with someone else, make sure the brother of that person isn’t around to hear.”

He almost wishes he could see Jensen’s face just because it would be fun but all well. He turns to leave and in true coward, and idiot, fashion, as soon as the immediate threat of danger is gone, Jensen remembers how to talk. “I’m not wrong.”

He clenches his fists imagining the sweet feeling of them colliding with skin and bone. He takes a breath, counts to three, and luckily for the asshole, he doesn’t say anything else, maybe he does have some sense of self preservation under all that coddling. Then he turns around and looks at Padilla. “Train your idiot better. Next time I won’t be as nice.”

He walks away to the squawks of indignation over which he hears Padilla saying, “Well if I heard you talking like that about one of my brothers I wouldn’t be happy with you either.”

He’s pretty proud of himself, as much as breaking that shit stain’s jaw would have felt good, it would have been an unnecessary expenditure of energy when humiliating him would work well enough. He doubts it’ll change anything long term, as long as Jensen can keep living in his little bubble, he’s going to keep seeing the world how he wants.

Maybe it was a bad idea to get involved at all, getting on a Padilla’s bad side is never smart but he’s not totally sure that he did, at the very least he thinks if Tony was angry he would have given a clearer expression of it.

It still pisses him off that people like Jensen exist, people who think the world revolves around them when they’re actually of so little consequence they often get forgotten. It’s annoying enough when Bryce does it but as much as he hates that, it’s somewhat true, Bryce plays a large role in his life. Jensen doesn’t and never will and if he was as smart as he thinks he is, then maybe he’d keep his mouth shut more often.

Instead he acts like the world has done him wrong because girls don’t like him, shockingly, and his parents are interfering and pay attention to him, the nerve of some people. He’s so wrapped up in his own petty problems he wouldn’t know a real one if it bit him in the ass but he’s only too happy to trivialize or ignore other people’s problems if they don’t fit into his view of the person. 

It’s infuriating. Actually it’s worse than that because of how unfair it is but at the same time, it isn’t surprising and shouldn’t be worth thinking about so much but he’s already done it and now he needs to punch something, or someone. 

Luckily he has westling practice after school and that’ll be as good an excuse as any to work out a lot of anger as long as he can get there without punching something first. 

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Justin stops himself from knocking on the door. He needed to see Coach about tutoring, maybe if it comes from a teacher in the school Mrs. Burns will let him finally start passing her stupid class. Unfortunately, someone seems to be in there already, he can hear an angry sounding voice that isn’t Coach. Glancing through the window in the door, he can see Coach Rick swinging his arms around animatedly in obvious annoyance. Coach looks stoically calm. 

He moves to back away from the door because he doesn’t feel like interrupting. It’s not-he can come back later when there isn’t any yelling.

“It’s the fucking De-La-Cruz kid. He was late today and got detention but he sets a bad standard and the others follow it! I’ve done everything, laps, making him stay late, making him watch practice, everything and it still doesn't penetrate his skull and now the others are starting to come late too!”

He pushes the door open before he even thinks and Coach sees him, offers an awkward smile, but Coach Rick spins around and glares at him. They know each other only through Monty. Justin’s never been in any of his classes and isn’t on any teams besides basketball. He’s fine with that. The man is everything Coach isn’t even though they technically have the same job. He prefers tearing his players down, has no sense of humor, and isn’t even decent enough to make sure his players know first aid like they’re supposed to.

Monty was late this morning because they got caught up cleaning from the party Amber had last night. There were too many cans and bottles and stains everywhere and the landlord is supposed to be coming by tonight to pick up rent and they wouldn’t have enough time to get the place perfect before then unless they started this morning. He had tried to convince Monty to head to practice without him, but in true Monty fashion, his brother had refused to leave him in the house alone with Dad around and as much as he wishes he could deny it, the sentiment made him feel safer. Unfortunately, the result of course had been that Monty was late for practice.

As far as he’s concerned, it’s a more than reasonable excuse to be late to practice and all of Monty’s other tardies tend to revolve around things like that, or one of them is black and blue and Monty can’t play or won’t leave him alone. Unfortunately, none of those things are stuff he can bring up at the moment. Still, he’ll be damned if Coach Rick thinks he can talk about his brother like that.

“Monty was late because of me.”

It’s the first thing he thinks of and he sort of blurts it out. Coach and Coach Rick both look at him, expecting him to continue, Coach Rick’s expression clearly says he doesn’t think this can be worth it. He has to do some fast thinking to come up with something but inspiration comes when he needs it.

“I was having some trouble with homework, my history homework,” he glances at Coach, to make sure the man feels connected, “and Monty was reading it over for me but we ended up taking so long we were late.”

He’s well aware Coach Rick doesn't like Monty and doesn't like him. He has no hope of getting the man to change his mind on his own. Luckily for Monty, Coach is here and he can maybe get the other man to take his side?

A snort. “De-La-Cruz can read? His grades sure don’t show it.”

He grinds his teeth but luckily Coach steps in like he was counting on. “Rick, that’s not the kind of language we use to talk about students, and certainly not in front of them.” Coach’s arms are crossed over his chest and disapproval is heavy in his voice. “I’m sure you can forgive one tardiness in light of schoolwork coming first.”

“You believe him? C’mon. Don’t be naive, the kid’s lying through his teeth.”

“I don’t think so.”

He watches as the men stare each other down but in the end Coach Rick rolls his eyes and says, “Tell your step brother that as long as he can get his ass to practice on time tomorrow, I’ll void the detention for him.” With that he leaves the room, Justin has the feeling that if he was an adult, the man would have knocked against his shoulder just to display his annoyance.

Coach watches the door close and then seems to wait a moment longer before saying, “You go through lengths for that boy Justin.”

“He’s my brother.” 

Dark eyes meet his and he gets the feeling Coach is searching for something. It’s uncomfortable and he finds himself talking before anything is even asked. “It’s just that people don’t ever get to know him before they make up their mind about him and I get it cause he can be really mean and kind of cold and very unpredictable but under that he’s so much more. I mean I’m his brother so I guess I have a reason to like him that not many others do but still. If people-if he could give people a chance and they could give him a chance they’d get to see him like I do.”

“And how do you see him?”

“He’s amazing. Brave and funny and he always looks out for me and helps me. He comes off as rude and crude but I think most of the time it’s self defense. He doesn’t want people too close so he gives them reasons to stay far away because he’s afraid they won’t like him if they get to know him so he makes sure they don’t like him so he doesn't have to worry about that but he’s so wrong because if he was just himself, people would know him the way I do.”

“Have you told him this yourself?”

He has. Once. He caught Monty watching some of the guys rough house playfully. He doesn’t remember the context, it might have had something to do with an argument over a controller at Bryce’s that devolved into an inglorious but very entertaining dog pile. He and Monty were on the sidelines even though he would have enjoyed participating. Unfortunately the bruises from a round with Dad were a little too fresh. 

Monty wasn’t roughed up badly and intensely guilty about that but had watched the ongoing competition with a strange expression that Justin had thought was mostly wishful and maybe a little envious. He had nudged his brother gently and mentioned that he could join them but Monty had shaken his head, clenched his jaw and replied after a moment that it would ruin their fun.

He told Monty that he could be their friend and not ruin their fun. That if he was just himself the guys would like him more and he’d totally be one of them. Monty had only raised a hand to ruffle his hair but any further conversation ended when Bryce returned and broke up the fight, equal parts annoyed and amused by it.

He’s sort of brought it up again on and off but Monty is probably the most stubborn person he knows and convincing him of anything is often absurdly difficult and involves playing the long game and being prepared to lose even that in the end. It hurts, because Monty only really has him and Scott. He isn’t really friendly with any of the other guys in the same way. They’re close and Justin feels kind of privileged that he gets to see a side of Monty no one else does but it’s also frustrating that people assume he’s just like his dad and nothing more because Justin _knows_ nothing is further from the truth. Dad is harsh and cruel for sport and boredom. Monty can be both of those things but only when he’s angry or trying to keep someone on the outside and he’s so, so much more. Gentle and kind and there really isn’t anyone who makes him feel as safe and loved as Monty and that makes him feel guilty when he sees Monty and Bryce next to each other because he can’t shake the feeling he’s betraying his other brother but it’s so undeniably true that Monty is the better brother even if only because Monty is the one he’s around more often.

The relationship between Scott and Monty is strange. It’s based on mutual respect and he thinks there’s some underlying affection there but it’s displayed strangely, gruff and never spoken out loud but Scott will offer advice Monty usually doesn't want to hear but needs to and in return Monty has never threatened Scott seriously. Both see into each other's lives in ways no one else did before Justin and he has a feeling that Monty still tells Scott things first sometimes, as a way to work out the anger and frustration at certain situations before he involves Justin.

And that’s it. He thinks his brother likes some of the other guys, Jeff, Luke, maybe Zach on a good day, but even then he keeps them at arms length. In fact the only reason Justin thinks he likes them is because Monty is marginally nicer to them. His barbs aimed at Jeff lack the creativity he uses against others. Monty never calls Luke out the way pretty much everyone else does, even when he’s being really thick headed and not understanding some innuendo. He’s pretty sure Zach benefits from their friendship but even then Monty can be mean.

He takes so long to reply that Coach sighs and says, “Why am I asking, I’m sure you have. We are often our own worst critics. Your brother certainly has reasons for acting how he does but if you remind him once in a while that there are other options, maybe someday he'll believe you. Now, I assume you came here for a reason?”

He spends the rest of the day mulling over what Coach said but it isn’t until they’re in the dark of their room that he finally works up the nerve to probe the subject again.

“Monty?”

“Hmm?”

“Have I ever told you that you’re the best brother I could have asked for? That I love you and think you’re amazing no matter what anyone says?”

He feels the arm tossed around him tighten a bit and then, “I love you too Jus, now go to sleep, we were up late last night and early this morning.”

He’s disappointed but not surprised and he is exhausted so listening to the suggestion is a lot easier than trying to force the subject. He’ll just keep trying and hope that someday it sinks in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have another chapter. I know I usually don't post on Thursday but I'm not sure what my weekend looks like and I wanted to get this out. The 1st part with Clay is the original section I wrote just as an idea that came to my head and I put to paper. It didn't really have any impact on the story, I think I wrote it while I was frustrated thinking about something nasty he did to someone and given how much he hates Justin in the beginning, and how much he hates Monty though out the show, it seemed very possible that it could happen. My beta reader wanted to know what the reverse of this conversation would look like, Justin defending Monty to someone and so the scene with Justin and Coach Patrick and Rick happened but posting them together made the most sense.
> 
> Next chapter should be out next Friday since I shouldn't have anything to stop me from a regular post. I think I know which one comes next so be prepared for a heavy dose of one of my favorite characters from the show who is done dirty by the writers xD.
> 
> Until next chapter, happy reading. Let me know what you think in the comments and a big thanks to De_la_Cruz87 for not only beta reading this chapter for me but inspiring half of it.


	8. Winter Formal

Monty paces back and forth outside their apartment for almost twenty minutes before finally working up the nerve to go in. It’s stupid and he knows it is but he can’t help it. This is so far from his comfort zone that he’d rather be subjected to a weekend of drunk Bryce bragging about his ‘conquests’ for company, actually he’d rather be trapped in the elevator again...no maybe not. Definitely not. This is better than the elevator.

Finally he sucks it up and goes in, he opts for the fire escape rather than the legal entrance cause he doesn’t want to risk running into the old bastard. When he gets to their window he taps on it and after a bit of shifting from inside it slides open and he climbs in. Justin gives him a casual greeting from the floor as he returns to his homework.

Monty sits on the bed for a moment, at least he tells himself it’ll only be for a moment and tries to figure out what exactly he wants to ask. He’s tongue tied though, words have always been Justin’s specialty not his. He’s bad with them, terrible. It makes what he did earlier today shocking but doesn’t give him any help here even though this should be easy. It’s Justin after all, Justin is about the only person in the world who he feels truly comfortable with. He should be able to ask this, it should be easy. Justin isn’t going to hurt him, or make fun of him, or anything like that. 

At the same time he doesn’t exactly know what he expects the other boy to do so maybe it’s just better he keeps it to himself. Yea… probably best he does that and forget about this whole thing and-

"What’s on your mind?"

He blinks rapidly and looks down at Justin who’s watching him.

"You seem tense, whatcha thinkin’ about?"

He opens his mouth to deny anything almost on reflex but then bites his tongue and reminds himself this is Justin and he doesn't need to lie to him and finally says, "I asked Sheri to the winter formal today."

Justin’s eyes widen like he’s surprised but then he breaks into a broad smile and says, "Good for you! I’d never ask her myself but-"

"What. Is there something wrong with her, is she not good enough or -"

Anger boils up in him fast and hot, he should have known that somehow he was wrong and that he shouldn’t have said anything and-

"I love Sheri but she’s too good a friend for me to ever think about in a romantic way. You have amazing taste and Sheri is a great person. You guys will have a ton of fun."

He breathes out a sigh of relief he hadn’t known he was holding. He likes Sheri, always has, she’s pretty and funny and kind and a lot better than him but he always worried it was an act, like Courtney’s, who’s transparent as hell and obviously a shallow bitch, but better at hiding her true intentions. But he trusts Justin to know better and if he says she’s as she seems, maybe this won’t be the worst night of his life.

He doesn’t reply, he hasn’t asked but maybe he doesn't need to. Yea, he doesn’t need to. He can figure out the rest of the details on his own and not have to ask for help. It’ll be fine, and the dance is weeks away, he can forget about it until then and it’ll be fine, totally fine. Besides, he just basically told Justin he didn’t trust him by doubting his reaction, he doesn’t really deserve to ask for help.

"So, you need help getting ready?"

"What?"

"Do you need help getting ready? You know, coordinating outfits, corsage and boutonniere, hair, that sort of thing. I can do it all but the tie."

He doesn’t know what two of those things are and has no idea how to ‘coordinate outfits’ and he’s not a girl. Why is Justin talking about hair? The stress comes back full force at the thought of all of it and he opens his mouth to say something but Justin speaks up first. 

"I’ll help. Don’t worry about it, you two will look amazing together and I know Sheri really well, just ask her what color her dress is and I’ll handle the rest."

"Yea, sure I can do that." He hopes he sounds calm but somehow he doesn't think he does. At least Justin lets him get away with it and doesn’t comment. He’s still sort of kicking himself for even doing this, for asking Sheri in the first place but it’s way too late on that now.

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"Alright, I picked up the corsage and boutonniere so you don’t have to worry about that, Sheri’s favorite flowers are orchids so this’ll make her really happy, when you pick her up at her place offer her the corsage, she may have you put it on but it’s got an elastic band so just put it on her wrist like a bracelet."

They’re in a bathroom at Bryce’s, thankfully he’s picking Sheri up separately but they’re all at the same table, him, Justin, Sheri, Jess, Bryce, his date, Zach, and Scott. It’s going to be a terrible night. He already has a headache and Bryce is packing alcohol with Scott downstairs. Justin’s very lightly buzzed but apparently isn't drinking any more. He’s had a few sips of something strong but it hasn’t helped his nerves at all.

Justin pushes him into a seat in front of the mirror and says, "You look good dressed up, now we just need to do your hair and you’re basically ready. You told Sheri an hour?"

He nods even though he isn’t looking at a clock, he just assumes Justin knows the time since he’s only asked about five thousand times. He’s also coming with him to pick up Jess, all the more reason for him to know.

"Good. Plenty of time. So I assume you have no plans of your own for your hair."

"Can’t I just-"

"No, you need to do something with it. Let me try a few things and you can tell me what you like."

He grumbles and replies, "That hair gel stinks. I don’t want it on my head."

"Too bad, this is for Sheri; she’s going to look better than you but she’s supposed to, you just have to look good enough to compliment all the work she’s put into this and that means doing something with your hair."

"Can’t you just do mine like yours?" It’s a last ditch effort but Justin’s usual style doesn’t use a lot of the nasty gel and also doesn't look bad. Well it looks like Justin but basically the same thing. 

"I can if we can’t find something else you like but let me try a few things first."

He sighs and slumps back in the chair, resigning himself to his fate as Justin’s doll for however long this takes. 

The first thing Justin does is slicking it back. It wouldn’t be bad except that it uses way too much of the nasty stuff and he can smell it. He vetoes it right away and they wash his hair and start over. This time Justin uses a lot less of it and smooths it to the side and Monty kind of likes it but not enough to go out with it, he sort of feels like some kind of villain from some seventies movie and doesn't like the feeling. Two more later and Justin finally does it like he does his own. Monty likes it. Not a lot of gel and he doesn’t feel like a complete weirdo. If it’s good enough for Justin, it’s good enough for him.

Justin finally lets him out and he slips downstairs, unfortunately running into Bryce who looks him up and down and comments, "You clean up almost decent. Too bad you look like you’re trying too hard to be Justy."

He brushes the comment off even though it stings a little but has to accept the flask from Bryce. He takes a sip so Bryce will leave him alone but he’s not really looking to get hammered before driving. Then he moves to the living room and joins Scott who’s already tipsy, his tie is draped around his shoulders, top buttons open, and shoes discarded somewhere in the house. 

"Probably shouldn't pick Sheri up looking like that. Most girls probably wouldn't be flattered."

He’s spent the last hour and a half being subject to Justin dressing up and making him look good for this, if it somehow isn’t good enough he’s not about to do another hour and half to fix it. Instead he huffs, not in the mood to play one of Scott's games. "Looking like what?"

"Like you're on your way to a funeral."

He gives him a nasty look and Scott shugs lazily. "I'm just saying. You're thinking this will be a bad night but I'm sure you don't want it to be. Try to smile and it'll all go better."

"Yea, right."

"I'm serious. If you look so serious and angry you'll set the tone for the whole night."

He rolls his eyes. "If you're such a master at this why don't you have a date."

Scott brandishes a flask and says, "Wouldn't be nearly as much fun sober and tied down with a date."

He snorts but leaves it, willing time to pass and for this all to be over but at the same time hoping for it to stop and never move again so he doesn't ever have to leave the relative security of the couch.

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Of course time doesn’t really care what he wants and when they finally make it to the car Justin pulls his last surprise, a small bottle of something that when he opens it, smells sweet, like peaches maybe. He gives Justin a look and he shrugs unrepentantly. "Sheri’s favorite smell and it’ll cancel out the gel smell you hate."

He gives Justin a dirty look but it goes unacknowledged, clearly Justin’s getting too comfortable with it.

The younger boy grabs one of his wrists and then the other and presses the rim of the bottle against it, then upends the bottle. Then he pulls the handkerchief from his pocket and douses a small part of it before folding it back up and returning it to Monty’s pocket.

Now he smells like peaches...at least it's better than the hair gel smell wise bit it's girly and he gives Justin a dark look which also goes ignored.

He starts driving and then suddenly says, "Aren't you supposed to use a lot of this stuff when you put it on?" He's seen Bryce, Jeff, and Luke put this stuff on and they go through a quarter of the bottle in one go. 

Justin offers a slight smirk, "I can add more if you want but then your car will smell like it for days."

That sounds terrible. Justin laughs and he rolls his eyes before adding on, "Besides with this sort of thing less is more. You don't want to smell like a perfume shop, only be pleasant to smell. Bryce and Jeff could kill with how much they put on, poor Luke is fighting BO so he gets a pass. I put on enough to be noticed but not too much, trust me."

That stops him. He does trust Justin right? He always has in the past hasn't he? So why not with something stupid and inconsequential like this? He spends the rest of the trip to Sheri's wondering that.

When he gets there Justin straightens his tie and gives him the once over before giving his blessing to leave the car.

He forces himself to walk stiffly to keep from shaking. It works well enough and Justin rings the bell. Mrs. Holland answers and greets them before calling up to the girls. Jess comes out first looking stunning in a pale blue dress that goes to her knees. Justin of course is a professional at this and manages an effortless exchange that mixes charm with genuine compliments and a modest kiss, parents and all that.

Sheri comes down next. His palms sweat as she descends the stairs looking radiant in a full length pink dress, smiling from ear to ear. Justin elbows him and reminds him to move.

"You look amazing."

Her smile gets impossibly larger and she says, "You look amazing yourself handsome." 

He offers her the corsage and she lets out a soft gasp. "Monty they're beautiful."

He knows he should say something smooth and charming like Justin would, something about them not matching her but his tongue feels thick and heavy and all he can say is thank you like a moron. She giggles though and offers her wrist.

They get roped into pictures of course that seem to last way too long and involve a substantial amount of Justin quietly reassuring him he’s doing fine but he needs to smile. His cheeks hurt by the end from smiling more than he probably ever has in a single forty minute period.

Once back in the car Sheri leans across the center console and whispers "You smell good."

He blushes and doesn't say anything. That silence continues for most of the ride on his end at least. The other three talk cheerfully about the night and what they want to get out of it.

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He's right, this might be the worst night ever. Sheri isn't the problem, he is. When they get there, she slips her hand into his and squeezes lightly. He manages a squeeze back and that makes him feel better for about a second.

Then they get into the gym and there are far too many people. He feels eyes on them, of course, Justin and Jess are basically celebrities in the school and Sheri is one of the most popular girls herself. He's the odd man out.

That becomes all the more apparent when they take a seat at their table because they join Bryce and crew who looks them over critically, lingering on him.

They sit down and only after seeing Justin pull a chair out for Jess does he realize he should have done the same for Sheri. It doesn’t take long for the night to get bad after that. Justin and Jess disappear onto the dance floor and that’s the start. It opens the door for Bryce to start picking. He’s been angry about him going with Sheri since he found out but Monty has no idea the context just that it led to a new part of their cold war and one he wants to not care about the the insults this time are just a little too frequent to ignore and a little too personal to shrug off.

"See you found a date Sher. Too bad it had to be Monty. You had better offers"

He stiffens but she smiles innocently and replies, "I prefer Sheri, Bryce and I’m very happy to be here with Monty. Anyway, I see you found a date too. You look lovely together. Where did you get your dress Allie? I love the color"

He has to give her credit because in that comment Sheri derails Bryce’s attacks for the next hour as Allie, pretty, stupid, and very talkative Allie, talks almost endlessly about dresses and fashion with Sheri who for her part seems to be enjoying the conversation, though pointedly aware of how much almost everyone at the table is not. Scott might be squirming to talk about things that doesn’t involve straps, frills, skirts, or anything like that and Zach may stoically be pretending he isn’t bored, but he doesn’t mind in the slightest.

Unfortunately dinner and the return of Jess and Justin shift the conversation which itself isn’t a problem but once the meal ends, Jess and Justin disappear back onto the dance floor. The next two hours follow a pretty set pattern of Bryce casually slipping in barbs at him in the conversation. Some are overt, others more subtle. Zach and Scott are uncomfortable. Allie gets so bored she leaves the table to sit with friends. The comments cover just about everything, social class, personality, looks, brains, even a few about how Sheri is settling down being here with him. He doesn’t refute any of them, actually he hasn’t said anything since dinner because he’s not sure he trusts himself and part of him is hoping if he continues ignoring it that everything will go away even though this is Bryce and that won’t happen and finally it comes to a head.

"So Sheri, you never told us how you ended up asking Monty to go with you. It wasn’t desperation since you had better offers, just about anyone would be better so why him?"

He flushes and any muscles that loosened eating dinner tighten back up immediately.

"Why do you assume I asked him out?"

"Monty would rather spend time with his old man than girls, it’s easier on him." There’s a darker message underlying the already offensive comment but he hasn’t figured out what it means yet, maybe that he and Justin aren’t going to be able to escape to Bryce’s for a while and be forced to spend more time with the old bastard.

"You must not know Monty as well as you think because you’re wrong. He asked me out, and he was very sweet about it, knows how to talk to a lady and everything."

Bryce snorts. "Right. Must have learned living with Amber Foley."

"You seem awfully concerned about Monty. Maybe feeling inadequate when compared to a proper gentleman?"

He and Bryce are both red but for different reasons. The look he gets promises revenge; it's just a question of when and what form. Bryce can wait months to get payback, but he always does. One time he didn’t help Bryce land a date with a girl and several months down the line when he needed money for their water to get turned back on, Bryce’s dad was mysteriously capping his spending and he didn’t have the money.

"Monty? Come on girl stop reaching so low. He isn’t a gentleman even when compared to animals."

She opens her mouth to say something back but he speaks first. He really isn’t sure he and Justin can afford trouble with Bryce, Amber’s new boyfriend seems particularly shitty and he’s sure they’re going to need to not be there pretty often.

"Sheri don’t-"

"See? He’s even a coward here trying to avoid conflict. Really you should have picked someone else."

For her part, Sheri has been growing increasingly annoyed and finally turns to him. "Do you want to dance Monty?"

Her tone is polite but he knows she’s annoyed and he can’t help but feel that even though some of it is at Bryce, some is at him too.

Bryce laughs, "Sheri, come on. Monty dance?"

"I wasn’t talking to you."

"Monty doesn’t even like you."

"He liked me enough to ask me to come."

"That’s if we believe you. I’ve known Monty for over a year and I’ve never seen him interact with a girl unless there was someone else around."

"It doesn’t matter what you think Bryce."

Bryce smiles, a leering, awful thing and his heart sinks. This doesn’t end well for him. "You’re right, it doesn’t. Let’s hear what Monty has to say."

All eyes are on him.

"Well? Do you love her?"

"Come on Monty, tell him how it happened?"

"Yea, tell us how she asked you out."

"Please?"

It’s too much and he can’t get away from the table or room fast enough. Running is Justin’s method of solving problems but he can’t help it this time. There isn’t anything he can do that will make this okay. He can’t get angry and flip a table or break Bryce’s stupid awful face, can’t yell, nothing except try to get away and maybe hope this is all some bad dream.

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Sheri finds him in the hall and slides down next to him, threading her fingers through his and squeezing. "You don’t love me do you?"

No accustion, not even anger. He can't look at her as he shakes his head. He wishes he could be anywhere but here.

She squeezes and says, "That's okay. I didn't really think you did when you asked but that's why I said yes. I thought it was brave of you to even try when a lot of boys wouldn't. Well that and Bryce asked me and I didn't want to go with a creep."

His eyes snap open and he turns to look at her. She's still pretty, curls falling down around her face, she smells sweet too, like peaches. 

A chuckle. "Bryce has money but that's no substitute for personality. I wanted to go with someone I like, even if only as a friend, rather than someone trying to buy me."

"You should have picked someone else. I've given you an awful time."

She hums and replies, "I disagree. I got to dress up pretty and come spend time with three very good friends of mine, eat fancy food, drink a little fancy wine, in fact the only thing this night is missing would be a dance with my very handsome and wildly underappreciated friend."

He gapes at her, opening and closing his mouth several times in false starts. She stands up and offers her hand. "What do you say?"

He takes it and they walk back through the silent hallways to the gym and then to the dancefloor. It's a slow dance and he's horribly stiff. She doesn't mind, of course she doesn't, it's just more proof that he's horrible for wasting her night. 

By the time he's finally able to move to the music the song ends. She lets go but he grabs her hand and says as naturally as he can, "I'm afraid I have to insist on two. If you're up to it."

Her smile in that moment is almost as bright as Justin's and makes him think maybe he's done something right. Those few minutes, well they're perfect, maybe even enough to make up for the rest of the night. When it's over she leans in and kisses him on the cheek.

"Someday you'll make someone very happy Monty. I'm a little sorry it isn't me but we should hang out more. As friends I mean."

"I'd like that." And he means it too, even though some part of him still regrets coming a little, but not as much. He may not love Sheri, but he does like her, spending more time with her doesn’t seem like a bad idea, maybe even one he could get used to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Welcome to a new chapter. So Sheri was one of my favorite characters in the show and I was so upset when she disappeared in the later seasons and I knew I wanted her to appear in this story and I had this idea of Monty needing Justin's help for something like getting ready for a dance, but I wasn't sure who he was going to ask. The I remembered that the first time you see him, he's offering to beat up Tyler for Sheri because he thinks Tyler is creeping on her and I also confess that I thought Monty had a crush because of this interaction. Obviously that was wrong but I feel like if Monty might have thought he liked her and so this chapter was born. Sheri will be coming back again in future chapters, as a friend only. 
> 
> Next chapter should be out in week but I'm not sure which one I want to post yet so I can't give any hints.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below. Also big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for all her help!


	9. Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world can change in a matter of seconds. For Nora, it's a phone call on a perfectly ordinary day. To cap of the shock of the day, her only company is a pair of boys she has mixed feelings about.

Somehow the least surprising thing today is the first person to join her in the hospital. It isn’t Barry’s family, his only living relative is a sister who moved to Fort Lauderdale when Bryce was seven. She really should call her and let her know what’s happened but that can happen later, when she has more news, and when she can find her number too. It isn’t her family either, her father is likely at home unaware of what’s happening and she’d prefer to keep him that way as long as she can. Her brother is God knows where doing who cares what and she probably won’t even call him about this.

No, the first person is Justin Foley who comes into the waiting room, eyes already red and with a somewhat surprising lack of attention to proper etiquette, hugs her as she stands to greet him. She hasn’t been hugged like this in years, if ever. It’s warm, tight enough to feel some level of security and comfort but not painfully so. And kind. She thinks somehow she can feel the empathy of the boy, how he hurts like he’s the one who lost a spouse of some thirty years but it’s for her.

“I’m sorry.” 

His voice cracks and if full of so much raw emotion he makes her feel something, for the first time today. She wraps her arms around him too, cradles the back of his head against her shoulder, her fingers slide through his hair. She held Bryce like this once upon a time when the dark and thunderstorms still frightened him, Barry too, longer ago, after he had failed his bar exam on his first try and cried tears of frustration, back when she thought she loved him.

She doesn’t say anything, just enjoys the moment for a few seconds before the truth catches up with her. Justin isn’t the only one here to see her and sure enough, looking over his shoulder, Monty lingers a few feet away looking uncomfortable as he watches. She thinks maybe she should offer him some comfort except that there’s no need. She doubts he’s feeling any more than her.

Justin pulls away on his own, grabbing one of her hands in his own. “We’ll come every day.” Blue eyes look at her with such earnesty she knows there’s nothing that could make him break this promise, except for everything not under his control.

She hums and then offers what she knows. “Bryce has been awake but isn’t now. They’ve sedated him to speed up the healing process. They aren’t letting people in right now either.”

She leaves out the thing, the one crucial detail she hasn’t fully made sense of herself yet. They couldn’t save his lower right leg. From below the knee, Bryce is missing his leg. It can wait. Justin looks upset enough for all of them at the moment and Monty comes over to guide his step brother to a seat. She sits down too and for a little while is left alone to her thoughts on the awful day, which started normal enough but involved a phone call about a car accident and insisting she come to the hospital as soon as she could. Learning Barry was dead and that Bryce would be forever changed by this. And learning that the only people in the world who cared enough to come, were her son’s misguided best friend, and his brother.

The thoughts replay over and over in numb detail until she can’t stand it and for total lack of anything to do, her eyes eventually find the TV in the room. It takes her much too long to realize the reason she doesn’t understand the people is because they’re speaking Spanish. It looks like a trashy soap opera that’s probably older than her marriage to Barry and will certainly outlive it now. 

Justin breaks the silence with a chuckle which gets him a sideways look from Monty.

“I was just thinking about when we were younger, Bryce and I. We ended up watching TV in another language but couldn’t understand it so we tried to guess what the characters were saying. I don’t think building a rocket and taking it to Mars was actually part of the plot but we made it work pretty well.”

She thinks she remembers that night too, Barry insisted that Bryce make an appearance at a big party he was having at their house and of course Bryce thought it was boring and didn’t want to go. He and Barry got into a big fight over it but Bryce had come, wearing in a suit and tie, dressed to the nines, with Justin following in his shadow looking amazed at the splendor of the party. Of course Barry hadn’t been amused but tried his best to show his son off while paying as little attention to Justin as possible but had eventually sent them both upstairs, disgusted either with Justin’s thrift store clothes, or Bryce’s disinterest in all the things Barry was trying to teach him. She found them hours later at the foot of Bryce’s bed sound asleep, Bryce on his stomach, Justin curled into his side, a fistfull of Bryce’s shirt cluchted in his hand. The TV was playing some foreign film when she shut it off and pulled a blanket over them. She secretly treasures the memory, it had been one of the last times she remembers seeing them act as equals. Shortly after Bryce started the process that left him more like Barry every day.

It’s a small thing, but having that memory being pulled up makes the day seem just a little more tolerable. She has so few truly fond memories of Bryce but right now they give her the will she needs to hope he pulls through because terrible as it is, she isn’t sure what to do if he does. He’ll need so much help and medical attention and probably her attention too but he’ll still be so-him in all the worst ways and contemplating that future is daunting.

Left to these thoughts, the day wears on at an agonizing pace. At some point Monty disappears and returns with sandwiches for him and Justin even though the younger boy doesn’t seem to feel like eating, for maybe the first time since she’s known him. Monty manages to coax him into it though.

Not long after Justin nods off. He seems exhausted and she wonders what it says about her that he’s obviously taking this harder than her. The hours are already dragging by at a snail's pace and she can’t help but wonder why Monty is still here. Surely he has better things to do than wait in a hospital for news about a boy he doesn’t even like. He’s been staring at the wall since Justin fell asleep. Well mostly, he did help shift Justin into a laying down position, his head on Monty’s lap, and tossed his jacket over him, but since then he’s been staring straight ahead like he’s trying to set the wall on fire with sheer intensity.

“You’re staring.”

His words cut through her thoughts and she’d be embarrassed if she had the energy.

“Why are you here? You don’t even like Bryce.”

“For Justin.”

And the answer is probably true and yet she doubts it’s the whole truth somehow.

“I’m sure he can live without you for a few hours.”

“I’m sure he can.”

Guarded, and she doesn't have the energy to try to find a way to continue the conversation. Monty helps her a tiny bit though.

“Justin plans on coming every day so if you don’t want that, speak now.”

She frowns, unsure if she wants it but she doubts it’s totally her decision anyway. 

“If he wants to come sit in hard plastic chairs for a few hours after school everyday, I can’t stop him.”

Monty nods and adds on. “He wants to go to the funeral too, for you and Bryce if he’s able to be there. But he won’t if you don’t want him.”

The underlying message is obvious. Does she want the poor boy, or boys as she knows will be the case, to show up? Honestly she doesn’t care and if she felt less numb, might find it sweet that Justin’s love for her son extends in some part to her. She doesn’t give a damn who comes and who doesn’t come. She’s already trying to figure out how to make it as small a thing as possible because her husband was many things but likeable was not one of them and if a lot of people come, it will be for handouts or to try to ingratiate themselves to her. 

“If you both want to come, I would welcome a few faces I know.”

It’s partly the truth, a lot of strangers will come but really she means she’ll appreciate people there who don’t want money, even though they are certain to be the least well off of anyone in attendance. She can’t tell him that though, for a lot of reasons.

All she gets is another nod and then silence again, this time that stretches on until almost ten when a doctor comes out and pulls her aside. He tells her that Bryce will be asleep for the next few days at least and they’ll re-evaluate at that time if he can come out. He also says that the hospital’s visiting hours are over and tells her she should go home and get some sleep and that they reopen to the public tomorrow at eight. The message is clear, but polite, and it may make her a terrible mother, but she was planning to leave now that she’s got this information anyway.

She returns to her seat, half expecting to be assailed with questions but remembers that Justin’s asleep, his head still pillowed on Monty’s lap, body curled up to only take up two chairs. Monty looks tired too but he watches her anyway. Mostly she assumes it's for lack of anything else to do but as always there’s a little guarded weariness in the watching, especially when she comes close.

“Visiting hours are over, do you two need a ride home?” She assumes not, Monty most likely drove them here. He shakes his head and nudges Justin who sits up looking more confused than awake and more asleep than confused. 

Monty mumbles something about going home and Justin finally catches up with everything, “Will you be okay on your own?”

It’s asked with such innocent childishness that she can’t find herself to be angry with him, he seems to be taking this the hardest.

“I’ll be fine, thank you.”

After she tells them what the doctors told her, they walk out. She has little doubt she’ll be seeing them often in the next few days. It’s sad, she thinks, that for all the people a person would expect to be around them after something like this, the best she can do are two teenagers she has no real connection to. One she thinks is dangerous, the other far too devoted to people who don’t care about him half as much as he cares about them, besides maybe Monty. It isn’t bad though, given her options she thinks they might be the best, or at least certainly not the worse and it’s almost comforting to know that they’ll be there tomorrow, that something in all of this will be consistent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for the record, Bryce is a scum bag, I won't say he deserves what happens to him in this chapter but I will say that I don't intend to use this as a means of redeeming his character. That said, I got the idea for this chapter out of the blue and tried to forget it but it always came back until I ended up writing it. The idea of Bryce being in an accident that robbed him of a limb just returned again and again and ultimately it came out and became the basis for the conclusion of this story. I'll say that I have 5 chapters after this accident written but I have a lot more like it. Going forward if people want I can try to make a note early on if it's pre or post crash. This is also the reason I needed Nora as a narrator as she has several of those chapters already written. 
> 
> Next chapter should be in a week and I don't have a plan for the next one to post either so I may see if I have an anthology chapter ready, a collection of short stories about the brothers in some way.
> 
> Happy reading and let me know what you think in the comments!


	10. In Search of Truth:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a lot of things for Amber, Bryce, even the old bastard and random boyfriends to pick at when it comes to Justin but the sure fire way to get him upset is bring up his dad. Monty knows as much as the rest of them, and after watching them use it against Justin for far too long, Monty decides to do something about it.

Monty hears the yelling from his room. It isn’t hard, the old man is loud and poor Justin set him off by slamming the door. It’s stupid because they all do it but at the same time they all know it’s an easy way to set the bastard off and they really have no one to blame but themselves when they do it. 

“I’m sorry Dad-”

“Don’t call me ‘dad’ you piece of shit! I’m not you dad, he left you like he should have, probably was just like you too. Lazy and worthless!”

Lately the old man has been taking a page from Amber’s playbook when dealing with Justin and talking a lot about his father. He hates the bastard for it because it bothers Justin a lot and that’s why he does it. He bites down a sigh when Justin comes in looking close to tears but bravely trying to swallow them back down.

“I’m hungry, let's go get dinner.”

That cheers Justin up a little and for the moment it’s enough. It won’t always be though, he should know who his dad is. The problem is where to get the info.

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Scott frowns. “You want to learn about Justin’s dad?”

“Yes.” He’s said this twice already but somehow the other boy is still being slow.

“Well, you could try city hall for the birth certificate but Justin isn’t eighteen so it probably won’t work. Bryce said he lives in Sacramento I think but he probably only knows what Justin’s told him though so that leaves you with the library.”

He raises an eyebrow.

“Had a family history project last year for DeAngelo.”

He rolls his eyes cause now he remembers Scott bragging he was related to some Civil War general for two days until Bryce made a comment about fame not turning into wealth and that humbled him enough to give it up.

“They have a whole section of census records and stuff for people who lived in the city at one point or another. You might find something there and they also keep copies of birth certificates somewhere. It’s probably your best bet since you can’t trust Amber.”

He groans but Scott is annoyingly right. Which is why he ends up spending four hours at the library doing research for a ‘family history project’ under Justin’s name. The little old lady who works in that part of the library is helpful enough once he tells her it’s for school but it still kills a whole afternoon while Justin’s at practice With her help he narrows it down to ten people, all Lewis Foleys, the name on the birth certificate, but with different middle names.

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He sits on the information. They have a three day weekend coming up in about a month and he plans to go then. He’s mapped out the route and three days gives them a lot of leeway if they run into anything unexpected. He can make the trip in about three hours but he assumes they’ll need a night in the city, if not two. 

He’s still not sure this is a good idea. He talked to Scott about it but he wasn’t any help. He thought about asking Sheri or Jess but it would require a lot of half truths and careful wording and it would make them worry. Jess would demand to come too and he can’t let her do that. He’s looked up the places in Sacramento that they’ll be visiting and they aren’t pretty. Jess should be able to stay a kid a while longer, the chance of them running into the lowest forms of life is very high and that’s assuming the lowest kind isn’t who they’re going to see. 

In the meantime, he keeps Justin out of the house and away from Seth and the old bastard because he doesn’t want the kid to see his dad for the first time through a black eye or with a busted lip. 

He feels guilty, like he’s keeping some dark secret. Justin’s asked him about it a few times, about something bothering him, but hasn’t pushed. Well at least he thinks it’s been about that, Justin thinks he looks sad. Personally, he disagrees and so does everyone else. Scott thinks he’s been more tense. Zach offered to pitch if he wanted more practice or o blow some steam off, Bryce offered weed to ‘keep that scowl away, it’s a party Monty, not a fucking funeral’. 

In the end, they leave sooner because of the others in the house, the old bastard and Seth, in a rare moment of cooperation, tag team Justin in a disgusting display of hatred for no real reason. They both spend a week picking at the dad issue. Neither of them pass him without making some kind of comment about it and between the two of them they drive Justin crazier and crazier. He cries. Not in front of them thankfully but he does. He also breaks Seth's nose, partly on accident, partly on purpose but if Monty hadn’t been there, Seth would have broken a lot more of Justin. Monty almost, _almost_ tries to kill both of them but Justin’s more important than them and by the time he feels safe to leave the younger boy alone he’s reminded himself that getting killed doesn’t help Justin much.

Everything comes to a head on Thursday but because of Amber not the other two. In a way it seems poetic that she’s the reason he makes a move sooner than he wanted because he’s sure she planted the weakness in Justin. He doubts she did as much intentionally, that would require too much long term planning from a woman with a severe need for instant gratification. But years of constantly comparing Justin to the dad he never met would eventually riddle anyone with insecurities and questions, and Amber isn’t nearly a good enough person not to capitalize. 

Justin comes in after a date with Jess. It isn't too late since Jess’s parents don’t let her stay out past nine on a school night and Justin must have taken the bus home. It’s too late for Amber though, probably because she’s alone tonight and it makes her angry that he wasn’t. In any case when he comes in she starts berating him for a lot of things, being irresponsible, wasteful, putting ‘some hussy’ over her and when Justin doesn’t give whatever reaction she’s looking for, she goes in for the killing blow and says, “Just like your father, he never loved me like he should have. Then he up and left me stuck with you.”

Even as he hears the comment from their room he starts shoving clothes into his backpack and when he finishes with that, grabs Justin’s blue Liberty bag and does the same. When Justin comes into the room pretending the conversation doesn’t bother him as much as Monty knows it does, he shoves Justin’s bag into his hands and grabs his car keys. They go out the fire escape and it isn’t until they’re a few blocks from their house that Justin asks where they’re going.

“On a road trip.”

Part of him is reluctant to say where to so that if he gets cold feet he can play it off. He doesn’t know this is the right thing. He’s afraid they’ll find this man and it will be horrible, that he’ll be a scumbag worthy of Amber and unworthy of Justin. That fear has haunted his dreams since he took the steps to learn how to find this man and it’s a real possibility which has left him almost nauseous any time he hasn’t immediately buried it in some deep, dark corner of his mind.

Yet when he’s let the alternative play out in his head, it’s never pretty. As long as Justin doesn’t know, it’ll always be a weak spot for the old bastard, Amber, Bryce when he’s at his worst, and any boyfriend who picks up on it. They’ll always know they have him there and it’ll either drive him crazy wanting to know, make him depressed thinking he’s the reason the man left, or both.

That’s enough for Justin right now though. He thinks maybe his brother is more than a little frayed around the edges after the past week and ready to be away for a while, he doesn’t even comment when Monty takes the turn and they leave the city. In fact he shows little interest in the world for the first few hours despite Monty turning on the radio and trying to pick up Justin’s favorite station, maybe if the thing wasn’t a piece of shit it would work better. It isn’t until he makes the merge onto I-5 heading south that Justin seems to come back to life a little. 

The only pit stop they make is for dinner at a fast food place and even then they keep it quick to get back on the road. He wants to be in the city early tomorrow

When they get to the city’s edge they find a shitty motel and get a room that only charges twenty bucks and doesn’t ask for ID. Justin does the talking while he tries to ignore the disgusting insinuations the man at the counter makes along with the lewd smile that accompanies it. As satisfying as punching him in the face would be, they don’t need the trouble. Once in the room, he wills himself not to look too hard because he’s afraid of finding a rat or dead person. They’re both pretty tired so passing out happens fast which is a blessing.

They beat rush hour into the city the next day but only because they’re up at four, neither able to sleep anymore despite how tired they were last night. He suspects for Justin it has to do with curiosity because the night seems to have brought him back to how he usually is, bright and cheerful, almost iridescent against the dull predawn. He can’t help but feel judgement is looming closer to him, them maybe, but if this goes wrong, it’ll be his fault and he understands that. It terrifies him and that’s why he’s up early.

As they’re crossing into the city he finally tells Justin to reach into the glove compartment. Inside is the research from his day at the library complete with the names and last known addresses of the men as well as a photo of Amber. He carefully doesn't take his eyes off the road but it’s hard. Justin’s face is shocked but he isn’t getting anything beyond that until finally the younger boy says, “We’re going to find my dad?”

“Unless you don’t want to.”

“I do.”

He isn’t surprised, he just wishes he could share Justin’s confidence in this. They drive to the first address and ring the doorbell. A man answers. He’s huge, dark skinned, muscles rolling under his t-shirt struggling to contain them.

“Are you Lewis Mark Foley?”

Arms cross over a chest wider than both of them put together. “Who wants to know.”

He clenches his fist, not in any mood to deal with attitude but Justin speaks first, thankfully.

“My name is Justin Foley. I’m trying to find my dad but all I have to go on is the name Lewis Foley.”

The stance softens, arms uncross and somehow the eyes look softer.

“I’m sorry kid but I ain't your old man.”

“I guess not. Thank you anyway.”

They turn to leave but then the man says, “You two look hungry. My wife’s making breakfast, it isn’t much but if you want.”

He wants to say no because they just met this man but as if to prevent any chance of that, his stomach growls and the man smiles, “C’mon.” 

And so they end up having breakfast with Lewis Foley, his wife Deanna, and three little kids at a very crowded kitchen table that has him and Justin sharing a seat. It isn’t much, toast and an egg he splits with Justin so that their host and hostess can each have their own. Justin of course dazzles, adults and kids alike, he has the whole table laughing telling the family about them, asking about their hosts, and keeping any awkwardness at bay. He’d be impressed if he didn’t know Justin was a born entertainer. He thrives on social interaction and effortlessly gets people to like him in return for freely giving his own affection to most people.

And yet, by the end of the meal Monty’s left with more questions than he has answers to, especially as Deanna wraps her arms around both of them and wishes them good luck and Lewis shakes both of their hands and tells them to be safe and look after each other. The kids all crowd around them and Justin gets down on his knees to bid each of them a goodbye; he somehow remembers all their names.

Once they return to the car Justin is oddly silent for a moment before saying, “They seemed so happy.”

He grunts, not sure what response Justin is looking for, if any. 

“I-it’s a shame he isn’t. He’s a good man. But I’m happy they’re together.”

Monty wonders what the old bastard would say to that given how dark Lewis Mark Foley is and how racist he is. He decides that the man looked more than capable of putting the bastard in his place and wishes the old man would make the comment to someone as tough looking, but with less to lose, and end up in the hospital for a bit, a vacation from him would be nice.

They visit five more men, thirteen addresses, a gas station, diner, and a park over the course of the day. None of them are as welcoming as the first but they only get three death threats which is kind of impressive. They get sent to several new places either because that Lewis is at work or has moved. Tracking them down is annoying but not too hard but visiting four addresses just for the man to be the wrong one seems unfair which is something he should be used to but it wastes precious time, The end of it brings them into a place he’s ninety percent sure is used to cook meth and the man they need is too high and gone to be of any help. He’s blond though, dull and ugly and falling out after years of drugs, but it’s enough for Monty to at least half convince Justin this isn’t the right man.

In another place they get shoes thrown at them by a woman screaming about an unfaithful husband who eventually comes and tells her to scream at someone who cares. For several agonizing minutes he seems promising as a candidate, a womanizer with three girlfriends right now and dozens of past ones. It isn’t until Justin shows him the photo of Amber that Monty is able to breathe a sigh of relief because he obviously doesn't recognize her and Monty doubts he’s either lying or wrong; he’s been disturbingly candid about his exploits so far.

All told, another man is eliminated as a potential because of race while a different one has apparently never had sex with a woman, he tries to make a pass at Justin so Monty breaks his nose and they leave. The last is in prison but they track down his mother, an old woman who reminds Monty of leather in terms of her skin and clearly lonely and looking for someone to talk to. During the course of the three hours they spend with her, neither he nor Justin are sure how to leave without hurting her, she spends most of the time repeating herself and talking in circles about times now gone that she remembers fondly. Justin delights her by asking questions about people and places and things even though the answers she gives are rarely answers to his question, or maybe by the time she’s finally gotten to it he’s forgotten what was asked in the first place.

Justin manages in the middle of her reminiscing to ask if she remembers Amber, slips it into the conversation as he’s asked the last dozen questions. She dotters on for a while talking about an Amber while Justin patiently waits until she wonders out loud if she has a photo of her somewhere like she’s done with nearly every person she’s talked about. Justin takes the opportunity to slide his across the table and the woman picks it up, smiling like a dying sun before that smile also fades into a frown. 

“No that’s, hmmm, no that’s not her, she was a redhead I think. You know my memory isn’t that good anymore but no, that isn’t her, she was much prettier, healthier looking.”

That’s good enough for him but they stay anyway, wait for the old woman to nod off into a nap and Justin tosses a blanket over her while Monty rescues the cup she’s about to spill.

They leave, lock the front and sneak out the back and don’t comment that they're both a little misty eyed. They don’t comment at all until several blocks away when Justin says, “If-she’s someone’s grandmother and they don’t know how lucky they are.”

Monty grunts because he remembers his own grandmother and she was not nearly as kind as that old lady.

They sleep in the jeep that night to avoid spending money on a room somewhere. It isn’t the worst place they’ve ever slept but it’s no hobo hotel.

The next morning they resume where they left off and Justin talks their way past a doorman into an apartment building in a surprisingly not shitty part of town. It’s not even middle class, but it’s working class and not just above the poverty line and compared to their neighborhood, it’s like paradise.

A man opens the door and looks at them confused before Justin starts talking, “My name is Justin Foley and I’m-”

“You need to leave.” His eyes are huge, and also the same pale blue as Justin’s, his chin has the same cleft, same cheekbone and nose. This is it, for better or worse, this has to be the right Lewis Foley. His stomach does a somersault but his face doesn’t show it, one of them has to be strong and as the man moves to close the door on them, Monty catches it with his foot. 

“I think you owe him an explanation.”

All the color drains from the man’s face and from inside he can hear a woman’s voice asking who it is.

“No one darling!” 

Looking at them he says, “Meet me by the dumpster in the alley in ten minutes, we can talk then.”

He almost protests and demands they talk now but Justin agrees. 

Lewis closes the door and they walk downstairs, slowly cause there’s no rush. They sit on the stairs in front for a while in silence. He’s sick to his stomach, this is it, or in a few minutes anyway. In a few minutes Justin finally gets to meet the man who left him and no matter how it goes, the result is his own fault because he did the research, made the plans, brought Justin, and didn’t even give him a choice until they were here.

Justin grabs his hand and squeezes.

It makes him feel worse cause he should be comforting Justin right now, not the other way around.

They move to the alley and wait. 

Lewis is three minutes late and the first thing he does is pull out a cigarette and light it up, smokes about half it in seconds and offers them one but neither of them smoke that shit. After he takes a long drag of it he looks Justin up and down and says, “You look good kid. You must be what, sixteen now, seventeen?”

The tension is palpable but before Monty can intervene Justin speaks first.

“Why?” 

One word, a simple question but Monty can feel the weight behind it. Apparently Lewis can too because he sighs. “We met in rehab and fell in love during the treatment, she was amazing. Beautiful and witty, withdrawal was only bearable because of her. When we got out we found jobs and rented an apartment together, seven months of life and everything seemed like maybe it was on the upswing for me. I had a stable job, a good place to live, didn’t need to drink or shoot up to cope with problems and I had Amber.”

He watches both their faces, Justin listening with an expression of mixed eagerness, apprehension, and curiosity, Lewis speaking with a wishful look, remembering something now gone.

“Then?”

“And then I found out she was drinking again and it, we never really recovered from the fight we had that night but we pretended we did, for almost a year we kept on like things were okay even though they weren’t. She went from drinking to using again and I-I couldn’t convince her to stop so I gave up trying.”

He pauses to take a long drag from his cigarette and then continues.

“And then she, well she said she was pregnant and I was surprised and happy and she was happy too and we-things seemed better again for a bit. She cut back on a lot of the stuff, I thought she outright gave it up until the end of her third trimester when I found her stash. We had another big fight that night. I was furious, said she was going to kill the baby, she was just as angry, said I had no right to run her life and she didn't need me or anyone else. Then she went to hospital the next day and stayed there till she gave birth the day after.”

Lewis pauses again, he thinks Justin may have stopped breathing but the man seems lost in thought, remembering something from a long time ago. Finally he resumes, “She came back from the hospital when I wasn’t home, didn’t even let me come get her, she got back on her own. When I got home from work that night she told me she lost the baby, that it was still born. It was-we fought again, she was angry, I might have accused her of killing the baby, she accused me of being manipulative and controlling and then said she never wanted to see me again and I-I left. I didn’t love her anymore. It was a hard thing to realize but it was true; something broke after the first argument and was never fixed, everything after was a slow decline and this seemed like the last straw. I packed up and moved here and haven’t seen her since.”

He waits, so does Lewis, while Justin processes the information. 

“She knew where you were.” Slightly accusing, mostly curious.

He looks embarrassed for a moment and then says, “I called her, in a moment of weakness. I-it was a few weeks after leaving her and I thought maybe we could get back what we had. She was high when I called and it wasn’t until after she cursed me out and hung up that I realized I had made a mistake. And the next week I met May and we married three years later. Have two kids, another on the way-I didn’t know-I thought you died I didn’t know that she made it up.”

He looks a combination of heart broken and confused and Monty believes him, that somehow he took what Amber said at face value and thought his child with her was dead. 

“So you didn’t leave because of me?”

Justin’s voice is off, full of too much emotion, mostly fear but also relief and desperation to know it’s true.

“No, never if I had known, I would have taken you with me, or stayed or something.”

“Even if I was a rotten child, cried a lot, was annoying and expensive and not really worth it?”

“Wouldn’t have made a difference.”

Justin surprises him with what he says next, not cause it’s untrue but because it’s a level of insight he hasn’t reached yet.

“And now you’re worried I could ruin everything for you. That me being alive could bring Mom back into your life and threaten what you have with your new family, right?”

Lewis flounders and he just watches the exchange suddenly realizing he doesn’t know what happens now, Justin found his dad, heard what the man had to say and now what? He could get Amber to sue for child support and add more money to her drug problem, but that doesn’t seem like Justin at all. His other choice seems to be to walk away.

A ringtone goes off and Lewis pulls his phone from his pocket and says, “I’m needed upstairs, the kids are making a mess. Listen Justin I-I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you but I’m not sorry I left Amber and I don’t think I can be the father you deserve, I don’t even know you. You deserve a father who loves you and knows you and I can’t be that man.”

It seems like a weak excuse, that Justin deserves something he doesn’t have and therefore this man can’t even try to fill in the space he left vacant a long time ago. Still, it’s probably for the best, he seems decent enough to call CPS and that’s the last thing they need. 

In the end they say goodbye, that's it, there’s no ceremony or special occasion to mark this. He and Justin turn to leave and then Lewis calls back, “Wait.”

A glimmer of something shines in Justin’s eyes and the man extends his hand, “I’m happy I got to meet you Justin. You seem like a good kid. If things were different, I would have enjoyed getting to know you.”

“Yea...it was, it was nice meeting you too, Dad.” He says the word carefully, like it’s something special and powerful and he’s trying it out for the first time.

And then it’s over, just like that. They get in the car and drive away. Justin is silent, completely. Monty isn’t surprised, he has enough to think over and it wasn’t even his dad. Mostly he thinks he’s just annoyed at Amber for doing this, Lewis for not having any interest in righting the wrongs, maybe even at the woman he married and had kids with for being a stumbling block because if they weren’t there, maybe Justin could go live with his dad and have a life out of existing and fighting and waiting to escape.

But that isn’t their life and thinking that way is pointless anyway.

They drive home largely in silence for the first half until Justin breaks the silence which is good cause he couldn’t figure out how to.

“I guess-I guess that’s it then, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“It’s-I’m happy I guess. It could have been a lot worse, I thought maybe-after some of the places we visited that he’d be-well when I heard one of them was in prison I was really worried.”

He was too but he’s not sure he can say that, if he does it might sound like he believes Justin comes from trash. He doesn’t think it matters, Justin’s Justin, in spite of Amber and his father. But it matters to Justin and he gets it because he’s looked at his old man a few times and feared being like him. He doesn't think Justin will ever be as pathetic as Amber but he understands the fear of thinking he may be.

“I-I also secretly hoped that-I dunno maybe he’d still want me for some reason but that was, I mean there was really no way it ended like that right? I should just be happy that I was a fluke and he’s not doing it to someone else.”

His knuckles are white against the steering wheel while Justin continues rambling.

“It’s just-I guess I’ve always had a daydream where I meet my dad and he’s-well it’s dumb but he’s wanted me. I guess if that had been a real possibility though I would have at least met him or something. And anyway, I had it as a kid, I don’t need him. It just would have been nice.”

Justin pauses again in his rambling and Monty takes the opportunity to make sure they have one thing straight between them.

“I want you.”

Justin looks at him for a moment in surprise, that’s fair, usually he’s a little less sappy about stuff. And then a smile breaks out on his face that Monty thinks puts the sun to shame.

“Eh, dads are overrated anyway, brothers are much better.”

A smile crosses his face unbidden. “Yea, they’re pretty great.”

In the end meeting Lewis changes some things but not everything. It’s no longer a weak point for them to use against Justin which they catch on to eventually but he has little doubt they’ll find something new to torment him with eventually. The only escape they can really have is leaving and once Justin graduates next year, they will. It’s just a matter of surviving until then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a question I've always wondered: What about Justin's dad? We get some teasers from Bryce, Jess, and Zach I think throughout the show but Bryce is unreliable and the rest are only repeating what Justin told them and it isn't much. Presumably whatever he knows is from Amber who is even less reliable that Bryce so the question becomes, how much of it is true, and how much of it is Amber manipulating or projecting? I've been wanting to do this story line at some point in one of my stories but it actually fit in best here and Monty and his jeep, along with the boys being able to disappear for a few days and not have anyone care, meant that I could work in a full road trip. I debated on how to ultimately settle this and ended up choosing this option of his dad being just like Amber, or being dead which were the other leading ideas. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy my take on Justin meeting his dad.
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week I think it's going to feature Bryce at his worst.
> 
> Happy reading, let me know what you think in the comments and thanks to De_la_Cruz87 for beta reading for me!


	11. Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin and Monty get invited to a party at Bryce's, it's...not what Justin was expecting but it ends pretty great so he isn't upset.

“Really Justin, when are you going to learn to tie your own tie?”

He grins as Bryce steps in closer to take the dangling strands and replies, “When you aren’t around to do it for me.” 

That earns a snort from Bryce which he ignores in favor of taking a deep breath of Bryce’s cologne and enjoying the familiar, comforting smell. He does resist leaning forward to rest his head on Bryce’s chest for a moment because that would not be appreciated. 

Monty stands off to the side by the large mirror in Bryce’s room fixing his hair, the dark purple bruises on his cheek and temple still something Justin’s going to need to take care of in a minute, thankful his are covered by clothes so he only has to do make up for one tonight.

There’s a knock on the door and Mr. Walker calls in, “Bryce. Are you almost ready? The party is going to start in ten minutes and I expect you to be available to greet guests.”

“I’ll be ready Dad, and at the front door when the party starts.”

“Good, oh and make sure you’re wearing the new watch I picked up for you. The designer is going to be here and I want him to see it being put to good use. He might choose the firm to represent him.”

Bryce rolls his eyes but calls back, “Of course Dad, I’ll see you soon.”

He opens his mouth to say something but Bryce nudges him to keep quiet. A minute later Monty speaks, “Does he know we’re here?”

Bryce snorts. “Does it matter?”

“He won’t like it.”

“Good thing he isn’t like your old man. If he didn’t want me bringing surprises, he could have been home some time in the last week to tell me instead of coming home today and announcing this. Justin, take care of that mark on his face. I need to grab something.” And with that he’s gone, out the door, still barefoot with his shirt untucked and in no way leaving them for more than a few minutes.

Monty breaks the silence that settles in the place of the dramatic exit, “We shouldn’t be here.”

He sort of agrees, when Bryce invited them to a party at his place, Justin was expecting the guys, maybe with some bringing plus ones in the form of their girl friends. Instead what they get is a text to climb into Bryce’s bedroom window where they found him in dress pants and an undershirt, two full suits out on his bed along with the remaining parts of his. At least it makes sense now, Mr. Walker doesn’t spend a lot of time at home but he comes through the door today and decides the family is hosting a big party that his office planned without Bryce knowing. If he was Bryce he’d be angry too.

Even as he got into the dark blue suit, and helped Monty in a charcoal gray one, he had had the funny feeling that there was a reason to get them all cleaned up, as Bryce put it, besides that that party would be ‘insufferably boring’ if they weren’t there. He pushed all of that aside thinking Bryce had at least told his parents but apparently not. Still, he gets to his feet and moves over to join Monty at the mirror and takes the small tub of concealer. 

By the time Bryce comes back a few minutes later he’s finishing the freckles, he knows the pattern on Monty’s face by heart even if no one else would know if one is misplaced.

“I really don’t give you enough credit Justin. Anyone who can clean up Monty so well has a career as a stylist somewhere. Maybe I should get you to do makeup for my winter formal date, she slathers the stuff on like there’s no tomorrow.”

He blushes as he pencils in the last freckle and Bryce lays out two watches out the dresser in front of the mirror. “One for each of you.”

His mouth goes dry while Monty says, “Bryce we can’t, these-”

“-Are worth more than your apartment? Probably but you heard my dad, he wants to get in good with the designer so put them on and we’ll make a set.”

In the reflection, Justin can see Bryce standing at his nightstand dangling the third watch in question and he clears his throat replying carefully, “Do you really think that’s the kind of attention your dad wants for his possible business client?”

“One attractive and another...well cleaned up guy wearing his watches? I don’t see why he’d be angry. It's free advertising. Now hurry up. Both of you need shoes and socks and Monty I’m not tying your tie so you’d better get it on. We’ve got a minute or two before Dad comes looking for me.” He claps his hands as he says it and with a sigh he and Monty finish getting ready.

Five minutes later they’re standing in the foyer of the Walker house flanking Bryce as he shakes hands and greets people and kisses ladies’ cheeks old enough to be his mother who he obviously doesn’t care about at all. It’s agonizingly boring for the most part though Bryce’s critiques of middle aged women’s dresses is at least funny enough between greetings to make the time bearable until they’re...well Bryce is done greeting people. 

Then they fade into the sea of people, Bryce doing most of the talking and he has the feeling the older boy needs to feel important and the fact that Mr. Walker is the topic of conversation makes him think he’s right. It’s mostly Bryce complaining, not that it’s surprising or unwarranted given the situation and it makes a good distraction from the horrified, disgusted, and superior looks he and Monty keep getting.

And then suddenly mid complaint Bryce stops and somehow a more disdainful sound makes its way from his throat and he turns around to follow Bryce’s eyes to land on a woman, probably in her twenties or thirties, approaching Mr. Walker with drinks in hand.

“Honestly, you’d think he’d at least have the class not to bring her around here. I guess it’s not enough that she probably planned most of this, she needs to see it too.”

Justin watches as she hands a drink to Mr. Walker and room is made for her at the small crowd he’s a part of. Anger burns up in him because it’s one thing for Mom to be unfaithful, she hasn’t got much to lose. He isn’t exactly the gift from God most people think kids are but Bryce is different. He’s smart and handsome and clever and a good son and a mistress isn’t good for him.

“Come on. I want to get dinner before I lose my appetite.” The disgust in the older boy's voice makes him think maybe he already has but he leads them towards the dining room where food is set up and sets about getting a plate and food.

He’s hungry anyway and the best part about these parties is if Bryce leaves them for a few moments while eating Monty will muse about the secret diets of rich people, salmon becomes whale, steak becomes emu, vegetables are watered with the tears of poor people. It’s one of the only times he ever has trouble eating and that’s because it’s hard between the laughing. Monty always does as a performance, in a low voice so no one else hears, but it’s endlessly funny to witness the other boy ‘inspect’ the foods before announcing his proclamations on the true identity of what they’re eating.

Bryce stays with them though, his mood now closer to sulking even though the food is amazing and when Bryce tells him to go get them sodas he jumps at the chance just to get up and move and maybe come up with a plan to get the older boy out of his slump. Getting to the kitchen for the drinks isn’t easy, in fact it involves a lot of squeezing around people and flattening himself against walls. Drinks in hand that won’t go well so he has to detour through the den since it’s usually blocked off for parties.

Unfortunately, despite not having any people inside when he slips in, it’s crammed full of all the furniture that’s usually around the rest of the house and it takes him several minutes to get to the middle of the room following the clearest path but he gets stuck there. A table piled high with other pieces of furniture stands between him and the other door. He needs to crawl under it, there’s no other way through for him but he can’t bring the drinks with him without spilling them. Maybe-

“Justin?”

Mrs. Walker is on the other side of the table, he didn’t hear her come in.

“I didn’t realize you were here.”

She doesn’t exactly sound displeased, but she isn’t happy either. Mostly her voice is neutral, maybe a little strained and tired.

He smiles and replies, “It’s sort of a surprise for everyone I think.”

“Comforting. What are you doing in here? The party, and my son, I assume, are outside.”

He holds up the cups and replies, “Drink run, thought this would be faster. Not really. What about you, what are you doing in here?”

A look of pain and maybe humiliation crosses her face and he ducks his head. What a stupid question, if Bryce knows Mr. Walker has a mistress than how could Mrs. Walker not?

Yet in true fashion, Mrs. Walker replies evenly, “I needed to clear my head. Barry likes parties but they have never been a love of mine.”

He opens his mouth, wanting to say something but there isn’t much to say. He’s the son of Amber Foley, people expect him to be a player and eventually something like what she is. That makes the thought of trying to reassure someone everything will be okay even when her husband is cheating on her and bold enough to bring the other woman into their house will sound like he really did learn from the best so he closes his mouth before he can say anything hurtful.

Instead he tries to give her a smile but it feels tight on his face; she returns it anyway before offering, “Do you need help?”

“Me? What-” Oh the drinks, some problems are much smaller and easier to solve than an unfaithful husband.

He crouches down opposite of her and passes the drinks through before squeezing under the table himself and emerging on the other side to take them back.

“Thank you.” It’s awkward on his lips but she smiles and nods, and reminds him he should probably get back to the party and not to worry about her. It’s scary how she knew what he was doing and that he was considering trying to stay and help her somehow but she pushes him towards the door gently and he ends up fleeing the room because staying was just going to highlight his uselessness.

Getting back to Bryce and Monty is only hard because of the sheer number of people and once he does, it’s to an annoyed comment about how long it took him. Monty rolls his eyes over Bryce’s shoulder but he gets it, Bryce is having a bad night and lashing out, that’s fine, he can deal with it. Instead he tries to lighten Bryce’s mood up a little, tells some stories and jokes. It sort of works, the other boy isn’t stewing a half hour later but it isn’t until Justin catches the woman walking in their direction carrying a plate of food in one hand and a glass of wine in the other that he finally manages to get Bryce out of his slump fully.

He waits for the lady to pass next to him before slipping his foot out and catching hers. It sends her to the ground, food and wine landing all over her dress. He might feel a little bad when she stands up cheeks red and tears in her eyes but he tries his best to crush that feeling because she isn’t wanted here, not by two thirds of the house at least. Monty raises an eyebrow while he goes into fake damage control, blabbering about how sorry he is and dropping to his knees while trying to help her clean up as best he can without really trying. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Bryce smiling ever so slightly, clearly trying to cover it but not succeeding too well.

The only downside to all of this is that Mr. Walker comes over and the wine is clearly winning out over the man’s inhibitions, his fists balled at his side.

“What the fuck is wrong with you and why are you even here.”

He opens his mouth to reply when the man kicks him, it hurts a little but most of the impact is absorbed by his thigh. Monty moves forward and he really doesn’t want this to turn into a brawl despite Mr. Walker’s increasing curses and pulling his leg back for another kick until the woman speaks, “Barry!” It’s screechy and grating to listen to. “He’s a boy! You can’t kick him! What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me! They don’t belong here they’re-they’re-”

“Not rich? Didn’t realize that was so important to you.” Her voice has shifted from screechy to ice cold as she stands up and walks out without another word.

That only makes Mr. Walker more angry but Monty moves between them, a wild, dangerous smile on his face, daring the man to try something and finally Bryce makes a sound in the back of his throat and says, “Grow up Dad, you have guests and people are looking. Monty, Justin, let’s go.”

And then he walks towards the front door and they follow. Out on the porch Bryce claps him on the back and says, “That was really stupid Justin but I’m proud of you. You did good.”

He can’t help the smile that comes over his face which is mirrored, to a lesser degree maybe, on Bryce’s.

“And you made sure this is a party that won’t be forgotten any time soon.”

The rest of the night is pretty great after that. Bryce’s mood has done a one eighty and he’s now in his prime as they walk the neighborhood.

Much later they sneak back into Bryce’s window to change back out of their clothes and get the shock of their lives to see Mrs. Walker sitting at Bryce’s desk, a book open on her lap. She looks up and comments, “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.”

“Mom, what are you doing in here?” Bryce sounds a mix of curious and slightly annoyed.

She stands up and replies, “Thanking Justin for this evening, and repaying the favor. My husband is angry, I suggest you avoid coming around, he almost called the police to report those watches stolen but common sense won out.”

He has a feeling common sense means her, or someone else at the party because it isn’t something he strongly associates with Mr. Walker even when the man is sober.

“Thank you, Mrs. Walker.”

She gives a short nod and leaves the room.

Once changed they decide heading back home sounds like a better idea than staying even though Bryce isn’t too happy. He isn’t really either because home has been unpredictable lately and their plan had been to stay at Bryce’s before his stunt took that option from them and Monty has said so little all night.

“I’m sorry.” The words slip out and he means them. He was looking forward to a night at Bryce’s waking up in a clean room, soft bed, safe, with a full refrigerator in the house and he’s sure Monty was too.

A grunt and then. “Don’t be.”

“I should have been smarter about it and it didn’t really do anything but it seemed like the right thing to do and the woman wasn’t even that bad but-”

“Jus?”

Monty’s voice cuts him off and the other boy waits only long enough to make sure he doesn’t start talking again before continuing. “Don’t apologize for trying to do the right thing.”

“Still...I made our lives harder.” And that’s really the heart of the matter. They’re supposed to take care of each other but he’s closed off their best escape route and now they’re stuck home for the weekend instead of somewhere safe.

“You made theirs easier and we can adapt.” There’s an edge to Monty’s voice, a sliver of humor with the obvious subtext that Bryce doesn’t adapt well which is sort of true.

The older boy drops an arm around his shoulder and pulls him close for a moment while they walk before letting him go. “Text Scott, maybe the hotel will have a full crowd tonight.”

He pulls his phone out because that sounds like a good idea, or a better one than anything they were planning otherwise. Not perfect, but better than going home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a new chapter. As much as I hate Bryce, he isn't actually the worst human alive (only number 2), #1 goes to his dad and he's here to flaunt it. We get a little bit of Nora from Justin's perspective. Barry and Bryce will both be back to be terrible in later chapters for you to hate on though so don't worry about that at all.
> 
> Next chapter should be out next Friday. I'm debating between 2 Justin lead chapters, one with him helping a vulnerable Monty and the other with him ending up in some trouble at work. If you have an opinion either way, let me know in the comments.
> 
> Happy reading and let me know what you think of this chapter, it had a lot going on in it but I think it came out pretty well. As always thanks to De_la_Cruz87 for all her help and support!


	12. Elevator:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monty seems invincible, tough and brave and in control, Justin's always admired that about him but he learns that even Monty has something he's afraid of.

They’re on their way back from one of his games when he leads Monty onto the elevator in their building. He’s not really thinking beyond his feet being tired and not feeling like the stairs. Actually he’s too busy telling Monty how something happened even though the other boy was there and saw, and he can’t help but feel like everything’s amazing because Monty smiled at him during the game and told him, in a short moment they were alone together after the game, that he was proud of him. 

He’s still telling him about the buzzer beater points he scored when the elevator jerks to a halt and sends him forward. He catches himself on the wall before he can crash into it. He frowns, the lights are still on inside so the power isn’t out. Oh right, the lady across the hall always complains the elevator is bad and gets stuck.

He sighs and looks back realizing Monty has been strangely quiet since they got in. His brother is pressed into a corner. His face is unnaturally pale, freckles prominent on his cheeks and nose. His breathing seems wrong but his eyes are squeezed shut. 

"Monty?"

He can’t help the worry that sparks in him because Monty’s somehow more rigid than usual and that’s not a good thing. He takes a step closer, which basically closes the distance between them in the tiny elevator. He reaches out a hand and gently touches Monty’s arm. It isn’t until after he sees the hand coil into a fist and starts to pull back that he wonders if maybe this was a terrible idea because Monty is sort of acting like a caged animal but Justin isn’t treating him like one and that might be bad for his health.

"Monty, it’s me, it’s Justin. Are you with me?"

The fist is half drawn back but stops, commiting to not attacking at the moment but not commiting to giving up the option entirely.

"C’mon, just try to relax okay?"

Nope, and he doesn't dare touch Monty any more. He’s freaking out a little, Monty’s usually the strong one, physically and emotionally, so he really doesn't have much of an idea of what to do. Worse, Monty seems to be breathing much too quickly, shallow too. Not hyperventilating yet, but not far off from it either.

"Monty can you look at me?"

That gets a reply, one eye opens a little and Justin almost sighs with relief. 

"See? I’m right here. Now I need you to breathe for me, can you do that? Just match me. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out."

"Too small."

"Monty, breathe, c’mon. Just do what I’m doing please?"

That seems to work and Monty, eyes closed again, starts taking slow, exaggerated breaths mimicking his own which he’s making loud on purpose. 

It takes longer than he wanted but eventually he’s back to doing it on his own without coaching and sort of slides down to the floor exhausted. Justin can sympathize, the game was a kind of good tiring; now he feels like he’s gone a few rounds with Monty Sr. He follows suit, sitting across from him. He can only hope this’ll end soon and the elevator will start moving again because he doesn’t have to look at his phone to know it’s dead and Monty’s is too. They didn’t make it back here last night and Bryce was, well not in a very giving mood, they ruined a date he was having.

He reaches out carefully and finds Monty’s hand, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles. Monty doesn’t open his eyes, just squeezes his hand tightly for a moment and then relaxes his grip.

Justin doesn't really try to keep track of how long they’re stuck in the elevator, just focuses on talking, anything that comes to mind which is a lot. He keeps up a steady stream of chatter, stories about their friends, Zach, Scott, Jeff, he doesn’t mention Bryce cause that doesn’t seem right. He talks about the basketball team but there isn’t much to say there, mostly he gives his best impression of Coach in the locker room during halftime, including Coach’s warning to him to focus on the game and not the cheerleaders. He wore the same amused smile on his face that said he knew more than he let on about Justin’s crush on Jess but tactfully didn’t name any names even though there’s only one face Justin makes a habit of staring at. He talks about the sandwich lady, how she mentioned she missed seeing Monty since the last few times Justin’s picked up for both of them while Monty was still at practice.

He runs out of those eventually and has to resort to digging deeper for stuff to talk about, eventually he settles on talking about them, on how he’s looking forward to the next baseball season and watch Monty play and how great the team looks and how this year they’ll go all the way cause no one is going to stop them.

When the elevator finally moves again they go up a floor and it opens. He grabs Monty’s hands back and pulls him up, giving him a tug in the direction of getting out while he grabs his bag and follows him out. They’re on the wrong floor but at this point it’s whatever, they’ll take the stairs the rest of the way and probably from now on.

Once in their room Monty starts working on his homework right away and Justin gets the feeling that the older boy wants to forget about what happened. He can’t pretend it shook him up too so he’s all for that, seeing Monty freak out freaked him out too, a lot.

That night when they climb into bed, Monty faces away from him and lays ramrod straight and stiffer than usual. He tries to find Monty’s hand, under the covers and then under the pillow but strikes out twice.

The minutes seem to drag on, he wants to say something but he doesn’t even think Monty wants him too but if Monty isn’t going to bed, neither is he, even if he spends the whole night pinching himself to stay up.

They stay like that for at least an hour, he’s fighting sleep and Monty doesn’t even seem tired, his muscles are still as tense as when they started.

"We had a shed-at our old place. Small, the old bastard used it for storage for a few things but it was really small. The night Mom-well he brought me out there and smacked me around a bit, there wasn’t any room, he took up all of it and he was angrier than I had ever seen him, thought I was the reason she was gone. I thought I was going to die that night because he left me in there, padlocked the door so I couldn’t get out. Would you believe none of the tools were any good for breaking the door down? Probably didn’t help that I had a few broken bones. Anyway the next day when he let me out he just told me to get over it."

This time when he looks he does find Monty’s hand and grabs it, holding tight. Monty squeezes back too.

"I-small places aren’t something I like much. I can usually handle them but today in the elevator it just seemed too small. I’m sorry-"

"Don’t be."

Monty tries to pull his hand away but he keeps hold of it anyway.

"Don’t be sorry for freaking out when I do it all the time for less of a reason. You-what he did to you was wrong and he hurt you in a way that isn’t easy to get over. Don’t let that make you feel like you’re less cause you aren’t. You’re still Monty, the bravest person I know cause you are afraid of stuff but you never let that stop you from doing what you need to do."

Monty pulls his hand away and rolls over to face him and in the darkness he can’t be sure but he thinks maybe his eyes are wet. Well that’s fine, he meant every mushy, gushy word of it.

An arm is tossed over him and the tiny space between them is closed as Monty pulls him close.

"Go to sleep Jus."

And he does. Everything isn’t okay because Monty’s still hurt but he doesn’t know if there’s anything he can do to fix that pain. He’s too tired to think about it right now anyway. Monty told him to sleep and he’s going to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. Here we get to see Justin taking care of Monty as best he can and Monty open up a little bit to him and show some vulnerability. Not a very long chapter but one that's set pretty early on in their relationship, probably early in Justin's sophomore year and Monty's junior year, and showcases Justin doing what he does best and trying to empathize with and help people and we learn more about how terrible Monty Snr. is as a human and a father.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and since this chapter isn't very long I may try to post another some time this week, like Monday or Tuesday probably, and of course another will definitely be out next Friday.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy reading and let me know what you think in the comments section! Also special thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for her help beta reading this.


	13. Hold Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin expects a mostly boring day at work when he and Monty start their shift at Sunrise Convince Store, unfortunately it's anything but boring and he's sorry he ever thought it wanted it to be more exciting!

"I’m not eating that."

"It’s the only food we have."

"We’re in a convenience store."

"Only free food we have."

"I’ll starve."

"C’mon it’s not that bad."

"Fish doesn’t belong in a can."

"It’s good for you and you’re going to eat it."

"It’s been on the shelves for a long time so it can’t be that good."

"Kerba says you need to build muscle and this has twenty two grams of protein, tell me where you’re going to get that without spending money."

"That’s my problem not yours and I’ll fix it with anything that isn’t this."

Justin throws his arms up as Monty stares at the small tin personally offended by it.

"C’mon I already ate one and I’m still alive. It’s not bad."

Monty pushes the tin away with the plastic fork Justin gave him and he rolls his eyes.

"Please?"

Monty sighs. "Maybe. I’m going to take a leak first." And with that he turns and disappears into the staff bathroom that Nash sometimes lets them use and Justin sets the fork back on the tin, trying to think of an argument Monty can't refuse as he turns around to straighten the display and make sure everything looks right. 

He hears the door of the shop open and calls out. "Feel free to look around, I’ll be with you in a minute."

He turns back around to find himself staring down the barrel of a pistol.

"Empty the register into the bag kid."

He looks past the gun to see a bag tossed on the counter and then into the masked face of a man holding the gun pointed at him.

"I’m serious, kid. Do it. Or I’ll pop you and take what I want."

His brain freezes up for a second. He can’t think or move, he’s aware of blood pounding in his ears and his hands shaking a little. He opens his mouth to say something but of course words don’t come out and the man waves the gun and yells, "Are you fucking stupid? I said put the money in the bag before I shoot you."

His body finally starts moving but even as he’s opening the register Monty appears out from the back and lets out some kind of war cry, grabbing the hand holding the gun and wrestling it away from him while using his other hand to slam the man’s head into the countertop. The gun falls and misfires, the man drops like a sack of potatoes, and Monty delivers several savage kicks to the man's ribs as he snarls "Don’t point a gun at him."

The man whimpers on the ground and tries to defend himself and all of the noise finally attracts Nash from wherever he was upstairs. The man looks over the scene, walks over to the gun where it’s fallen and picks it up, empties the bullets out then looks at him and says, "You’re bleeding, might want to go get something to put pressure on that." He pulls his phone out and then adds on, "Oh and when the police come, switch your roles. Monty works for me, you’re just here. Monty, move over." When his brother does, Nash delivers a swift kick to the man’s head, there’s another crack that almost makes him throw up and silence after that.

His body is still numb as Monty brings him back to the bathroom and he realizes looking down that his arm is bleeding but it takes until Monty helps him get his shirt off that the searing pain hits and tears prick the corner of his eyes. 

Monty presses a wad of paper towels against it and helps him hold it there murmuring to him softly that it’s okay, and he’s safe, and the bullet grazed him. They’re still back there when there’s a knock on the door and a woman’s voice asks if she can come in. When Monty agrees, a lady in a police uniform enters. She speaks gently to them but Monty does most of the talking and eventually they go back to the main part of the store where the robber is gone although murky brown stains remain on the floor and across the counter, as well as a hole in the wall. A young man in a paramedic’s uniform comes over and talks to him soothingly while wrapping his arm up in a bandage and tells him to keep that on and keep it dry for twenty four hours and asks if he needs anything for the pain which Justin accepts.

A moment later Mr. Standall, wearing his uniform, comes in and an awkward conversation ensues that Justin is only half following. Mr. Standall asks if they’re okay, Monty tries really hard to answer without attitude, lies that he’s called their parents, and then they run through questions about what happened where he barely says anything, signs a paper after it’s read to him and then everyone leaves. Mr. Standall awkwardly offers to wait with them until their parents arrive, but Monty convinces him he has to get back to work and when the man finally leaves, he’s alone with Monty and Nash.

Silence reigns for a minute and then Nash breaks it. "You should put a shirt on." And then a moment later. "You didn’t tell me you knew a cop." There’s something suspicious in his voice but Justin can’t be bothered to try figuring it out and Monty replies flatly they go to school with his kid. He would have said Alex is their friend but it’s a moot point and anyway might not be the best idea but he doesn’t know why that would be, just that it’s probably true.

A sweatshirt is pressed into his hands and he realizes numbly that the shirt he was wearing is ruined, and then remembers it’s Monty’s favorite and guilt wells up in him but his brain and mouth aren’t working so he doesn’t say anything about it. Nash sends them home, saying he has a lot of cleaning to do and doesn’t need their help. 

Monty takes them to the hotel, it’s cool out since he’s only in a sweatshirt and Monty’s in a T-shirt, but he’s fine with it. He’s not sure he wants to go home and he doesn’t feel up to company, plus he’d be embarrassed to see Bryce, someone tried to kill him and he just stood there like an idiot for most of it. Definitely not something he wants to tell Bryce about.

Most of the night blends together messily to the sound of Monty talking, his low, rumbling voice soothing and calm but he isn’t really paying much attention. It isn’t until they roll out sleeping bags that the shock is faded enough for him to really start feeling anything normally. It’s weird, like a mix of coming down from a high, the rush of coming up lightheaded from under water, and waking up after blacking out. It hurts like the last one too, the pain medication must be wearing off so maybe he is coming down from a high. His arm burns without any pressure on it and he can’t imagine sleeping on it.

He crawls into the bag and lets Monty zip it up for him and then watches in the dying light as Monty gets into a bag next to him, carefully laying an arm over him, mindful of the wrappings.

Finally he mumbles, "Thank you. I-I just froze and…"

The arm around him squeezes gently as Monty replies, "You’d have done the same for me."

He doesn’t reply for a moment until he says, "I’m sorry about your shirt."

A snort. "Don’t be. I’m happy that’s all that’s ruined."

He opens his mouth to argue even though he feels sleep coming on but Monty’s arm is shaking slightly and actually, Monty’s whole body is. He doesn’t turn around or say anything about it, just grabs Monty’s hand and squeezes as he nods off, content to go to sleep and try not to think about the terrifying experience. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a new chapter! I don't usually post on Tuesday but I need to start clearing out finished chapters from the doc I write everything in because it's over 200 pages and takes a lot longer to load than I want. I may do this again next week too but I'll see. Anyway, I knew I wanted to do a scene like this for a while but originally it was Monty being held up at a laundromat and then another iteration had it Justin at a gas station but neither of those worked how I wanted and eventually this came alone. My beta reader (shout out to De_La_Cruz87, you're amazing) was dying to know more about Nash who I wrote for the 1st time in this chapter and who has now a major role in 3 other finished chapters with another on the way to finish that story arc. I hope you all like him as much as she does and if not, I'll make sure to space his chapters out. As for the brothers, I almost felt bad for the would be robber because he had no idea threatening the kid behind the counter would awake a monster in the kid's brother, even if both of them were utterly terrified about the gun and being held up.
> 
> Next chapter will still be out Friday and I think I'll post something lighter to make up for the last 2 chapters being pretty heavy, so I think it's time to revisit Sheri and let her make everything better.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments, do you feel bad for this robber? Did the chapter stress you out? Are you excited for more Sheri? And any other thoughts you may have! cause I want to hear them all!


	14. An Angel Named Sheri Holland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If there is such a thing as angels on Earth, it's Sheri, nothing will change Monty's mind.

Mornings when he isn’t expected to do anything particular before homeroom are his favorite. They usually involve Justin having practice so he isn’t compelled to be with the guys and he can enjoy fifteen minutes to himself, either to scribble down homework or else just sort of zone out and exist for a while without having to think or plan or anything like that.

Unfortunately the world has other plans today because as he rounds the corner on the way to his locker, he finds Sheri. She’s standing in the hall clearly having an uncomfortable conversation with Nick Maron, a senior and her only ex. 

He’s textbook all American Boy material, dark hair, bright blue eyes, captain of the football team, tall and muscular, not hulking but built and if not for Bryce and maybe Jeff and Justin, the most popular boy at Liberty. He’s also an ass. Not in the same way as Bryce because he isn’t rich like that but Monty has heard his locker room opinion of girls, and more specifically he heard about the other boy’s break up with Sheri, from Nick’s perspective only. It happened months ago, long before the Winter Formal maybe October? Early November? Either way it dominated the conversations in the locker room for weeks and Bryce stoked the fire by bringing her occasionally for months afterwards. 

They’re now in March and he can hear the shouting as he gets closer. Sheri’s up against the lockers and Nick is standing much too close, his face flushed, obviously angry, one hand against the locker keeping Sheri pressed against it. For her part she looks annoyed and impatient, possibly a little nervous but she hides it well and from what he can gather as he gets closer, Nick is trying to get something back from Sheri that he gave her for their anniversary and doesn’t believe her when she says she threw it away.

He doesn’t waste anymore time listening. Nick doesn’t deserve a kind thought so Monty crosses the hall towards them, pushing past the crowd of shameless gossips so he can get up in Nick’s face but purposefully ignores him as he asks Sheri "Is this guy giving you a problem?"

Sheri looks relieved and that alone makes him think this is right but before she can reply, Nick does. "The fuck De La Cruz? I’m right here."

He ignores the older boy and keeps his focus on Sheri who says, "I don’t think he will anymore."

Sheri slides past Nick’s arm now that he’s moved back a little for Monty and she comes closer to him. They’re about to turn around and walk away when Nick growls behind them. "You picked this fucking loser over me? What did he offer you a better deal you fucking cun-"

Monty slams his fist into the other boy’s nose. There’s a satisfying crunch followed by the warm, sticky feeling of blood spraying onto his fist.

Adopting his best menacing voice he growls, "Don’t ever think about using that word for her again."

Gasps and shouts go up around them and Nick, true to his pathetic, sniveling character, drops like a rock and starts crying and screaming. All of the noise finally attracts a teacher who of course wasn’t there two minutes earlier to save him the trouble of breaking the idiot's nose but does see him do the deed and he’s sitting in the office not much later.

Suspended for three days seems pretty trivial compared to the reward. The old man isn’t too pissed because he has an extra worker for the next three days so he gets off light, a broken nose for a broken nose. Justin is horrified but once he explains why he did it the younger boy isn’t too upset with him and Sheri sends a text later that day telling him she didn’t need him to do that but thanking him anyway.

The real reward is when months later Sheri comments that Nick hasn’t said a word to her since and that was the goal, to make sure he doesn’t ever cause her a problem again. He’s more than capable of dealing with some dirty looks and a bit of pain for that.

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His appreciation for the library grows the longer he’s at Liberty. It’s not that the books or computers are particularly amazing although the computers at least are good for him and Justin to do some work at and print stuff. The true benefit of it is that it’s the perfect place to take a nap during lunch when he doesn’t have anything to eat and is on Bryce’s shit list and can’t count on him for handouts.

There’s a spot somewhere near the center of the mass of bookshelves that has a couch and on lucky days he can nab that and pass out for forty minutes. On unlucky days, the floor is carpeted and is about the only floor in the school that isn’t filthy so he’ll take it.

Today is a lucky day and he’s just nodding off, his jacket balled up under his head when a shadow falls across his face and someone nudges him lightly and whispers his name. He could pretend he doesn't feel it and try to sleep but he cracks his eye open and Sheri is looking down at him with a slightly amused smile on her face. Funny, the way she’s standing over him the light is perfectly behind her so that the ends of her hair glow and she looks a little like an angel.

That idea is immediately reinforced when she says, "I didn’t see you at lunch and thought you might be hungry."

Starving might be more accurate and she holds out half a sandwich to him. Before he can even tell her he doesn't need it she adds, "A certain mutual friend of ours might have mentioned you not having anything."

He rolls his eyes cause Justin would do something like that even though he hasn’t eaten either and he sits up to make room for her. She takes a seat and they end up splitting her lunch, half a sandwich, about ten grapes, and a granola bar. It isn’t enough food by a long shot but the gesture more than makes up for it and refusing would be pointlessly cruel. Her company is better than the food anyway. They don’t talk much and have to keep their voices down since they can’t risk getting caught eating in the library but the companionship is there without talking. He’s actually sorry when the bell rings but Sheri nudges him and reminds him they’ll be seeing each other later.

After that it becomes something they do once in a while, there’s no schedule set up of course but happens again several weeks later and then again a few weeks after that. Sometimes he even has his own lunch. He quickly comes to look forward to it but they make lunch with Bryce all the more loathsome and lunch with her all the more enjoyable and he wishes every lunch could be like this but she has friends and he has the guys and there are other reasons it wouldn’t work either. He has it though and that’s enough.

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As much as he hates communications, he’s forced to admit that Mrs. Bradley is probably one of the more well intentioned teachers at Liberty. That doesn't stop her from being annoying and her strategies from being tailored towards working and middle class households with very little practical application for people on either extremes where the worlds are just too different for what she says. It does mean he feels a little bad for being mean and not caring about the class at all but it’s pointless so not really.

There is an upside to the period and that’s Sheri being there which makes it easily the class he most looks forward to in his entire day, even more than gym. It’s nice to come in and find her waiting for him, smile on her face matching his own when he sees her each day. They don’t talk...much. She does have a notebook they’ve almost filled with tic tac toe boards and hangman games and they spend a lot of the class making faces at each other and trying not to get caught while doing so.

Oddly the dumbest part of the class turns out to be the best because they can write whatever the want on the notes they leave each other in their bags and it’s silly, stupid even, because they could just as easily say the things to each other and not wait twenty four hours to read them but something about the delay makes the messages more enjoyable. He’s saved all of her notes to him, little poems 

_roses are red,_

_violets are not blue,_

_Mrs. Bradley has sexy ankles,_

_I wish I had them too._

He had to fight so hard not to burst out laughing when he read it and Sheri, across from him, had a ghost of a smile across her face that made it clear she knew his internal struggle. He got her back the next day when before entering the room, he cuffed up his pant legs so his ankles were bare. She actually snorted while laughing when she saw and everyone turned to look at them and it was embarrassing, but not really because only they were in on the joke and that felt nice.

Sometimes she left him pictures, little doodles she made, trees, flowers, once around Valentine's Day a bright red heart doddled on an index card and surrounded by smaller pink hearts and a simple message ‘to my best friend’ in Sheri’s loopy letters.

He leaves her more random things, jokes usually, observations he makes that she might find humorous, occasionally questions, if she’s having a good day or how a date or hang out went with friends, sometimes goofier questions, did she think he’d make it as a ankle model or if or how many cray Clays it takes to find their cray way. She giggled and told him it was mean but she hadn’t heard him being an ass in the library the day before.

The stupid thing is that he hadn’t realized how much he looked forward to their little game until she’s out two days in a row. The first day is bad enough, she isn’t there to smile at him, they don’t make faces at each other but he still claims her little note from his bag at the beginning of class and throughout reads it probably a dozen times just to picture her voice in his head saying it. It’s a weak way to drive back the loneliness and the class moves painfully slow but he gets through it. 

When she isn’t in the next day it’s even worse because he doesn’t even have the little note from her to read. He checks his bag, irrationally hoping that somehow she left one for him that he missed before that but it’s depressingly empty and the realization that he knows no one else in the class and without Sheri would be totally alone in it is kind of painful. He pushes it down ruthlessly and reminds himself that there’s a reason Sheri is special to him and why he doesn’t ever really feel he deserves her.

Those feelings are confirmed, in a good way, when he reaches into his bag the second day she’s back and finds a note for that day, and ones for every day she missed before that. It leaves him feeling warm and fuzzy and maybe a little dizzy.

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"And Jess was so annoyed about it because?"

Sheri laughs and he thinks that her laughter is at least on par with Justin’s, different, his is more reckless and full of joy while her’s is sweeter and more musical, but on par.

"She thinks Coach is a hardass and picks on her just to make her life more difficult. You unfortunately ended up around her after Coach got her worked up."

Pausing for a moment, she adopts a sympathetic smile and adds. "I hope she didn’t hurt your feelings, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything she said and I’d bet just about anything that Justin’ll have her apologizing to you tomorrow."

He chuckles cause he can see it.

Sheri chuckles too and continues. "He’ll probably give her those big puppy eyes of his and ask her why she was mean and eventually she’ll just feel bad."

He can’t help the grin that comes over his face unbidden. "I know the tactic."

She gives a mock gasp. "Does thee Montgomery De La Cruz, terror of the school, bend when golden boy Justin gives him puppy eyes?"

He opens his mouth to reply when suddenly he realizes how utterly inadequate he must be as company. Sheri is basically top of the food chain, rivaled only by the likes of Bryce and Justin, while he only exists in the light they give off. She could probably be with anyone else she wants right now, even Bryce chased after her as much as he ever chases anyone, so there are probably no doors closed to her on a Friday afternoon. Instead of picking someone more exciting or fun or likable, she’s here with him who can barely hold a conversation and honestly since they sat down, she’s done most of the talking.

A hand covers his and he looks up to meet concerned eyes, warm like liquid chocolate, at least how it looks on commercials. "Something wrong?"

"I’m sorry I’m not Justin." He kind of blurts it out. Not really thinking and not really meaning Justin specifically, or maybe he does but not only Justin. He could be Zach, or Scott, Chloe or Jess or one of the other girls from the squad or just about anyone else and be more interesting and likeable and more worth Sheri’s time.

"I didn’t ask Justin to come here. I asked you." Her voice is strange, a mixture of firmness but not hard, soft but not weak. "And I asked you because you’re my friend and I like you and your company and I don’t care who says anything about it."

He crushes the feeling of embarrassment that she somehow knew that the next thing he was going to bring up was the people at Liberty clearly having too much time and gossip about everything and them being together now will inevitably feed that gossip. He doesn’t think it can hurt his reputation, there isn’t much reputation to hurt but Sheri- she actually does have a social life and he could very much damage it. And yet she doesn’t care at all about it. Honestly it’s confusing and most of the time if he can’t figure out the reason for something he doesn’t trust it but Sheri has always been the exception to every rule he’s ever set for interactions outside Scott and Justin and maybe he doesn’t need to understand as much as just accept and enjoy and not always be waiting for the other shoe to fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically Sheri is a queen and no one will change my mind xD. I wanted to further her and Monty's relationship post the Winter Formal chapter. It started with the last scene, a daydream of Monty feeling insecure about being 'bad' company and Sheri doing her best to clear that doubt but grew as I realized there was a lot of fun I could have with her and Monty and everything else in this chapter was born out of that.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter, next one will be out on Tuesday and I'm thinking a sort of different chapter. I wrote something up that has 5 different narrators each leading a small section and I plan on posting that one.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy reading and let me know what you think in the comments below! Also big thanks to De-La-Cruz87, my wonderful beta reader! You should check out her latest story and give it a read and drop a kudos for her.


	15. House Visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin and Monty are weird about people knowing where they live or visiting. Unfortunately for them, at Liberty alone there are a lot of people nosy enough, stubborn enough, or just plain curious enough to figure out where they live and show up there for different reasons. The brothers are left to manage the visits and the fall outs of them.

Ryan opens the camera on his phone to make sure his hair is right before pounding on the door. A mammoth of a man answers and looks him up and down with disgust before demanding, "The fuck are you doing here?"

"My name is Ryan Shaver. I’m Looking for Montgomery de la Cruz for an inter-" 

A growl cuts him off and the man leans back into the house to yell. "Boy! Some fag wants you."

He bites his tongue and ignores the insult. The man sounds angry and looks dangerous and is pretty much exactly what he’d expect from the person responsible for creating Monty. 

Speak of the devil. The man moves back into the house with a final nasty look and Monty appears looking weary at first and then annoyed when he sees him.

"What do you want?" 

Irate actually might be an even better description. 

"Umm you owe me an interview." 

As the school’s journalist he’s supposed to be interviewing all the members of the baseball team about their homecoming game, apparently it’s a big deal. Personally he thinks it’s stupid but it did give him a reason to talk to a bunch of hot jocks and force them to talk back to him. It was funny watching a few of them squirm, so insecure in their masculinity that talking to a gay guy freaked them out. 

Of course, Monty avoided him the whole time and purposely denied him his interview which is why he had to use his position as school journalist to get his address and surprise him here.

"I don’t owe you anything." 

The other boy attempts to close the door but Ryan catches it with his foot. "Ah, ah, if you don’t give me this I’ll tell the school you were uncooperative, maybe imply your bad attitude has something to do with a lack of motivation for the team and get you benched?"

A little color drains from the other boy’s face, making his freckles more pronounced. He has to admit that he’s never thought much of Monty before, he always seemed second rate in terms of looks compared to the likes of Zach Dempsey and even Bryce Walker, but there is a certain handsomeness about him under the angry exterior.

"Coach won’t believe you."

"Is that a bet you’re willing to take? If it is I can always add on that you used homophobic languge and threatened me."

The other boy’s lip curls, "Journalism at its finest."

"The story is all that matters, how I get it is however I can. Are you going to invite me in now?"

Monty lets him in and leads him through the living room, giving him a good view of the apartment on his way. It’s dirty, grimy, disgusting, and plain unsanitary. The wall and carpet are patchworks of stains, a faint odor hands about, sex he thinks, maybe something else. Revolting. Honestly people should take more pride in where they live, it’s surprising he doesn’t find rats but for all the mess, there doesn’t look to be any food lying around so that’s one upside.

They stop in the kitchen and Ryan isn’t surprised to find a sink full of dirty dishes, a table and chairs of all mish-mashed parts, and not much else.

They sit down and he tries to convince himself sitting in something unstable and gross is a hazard of the job as Monty coldly says, "Make it quick."

"How do you feel about the upcoming game? What kind of emotions are you experiencing?"

"It’s a game. I’m going to play and do my best and hopefully we win."

"Hopefully? Everyone else is positively oozing with confidence that you’ll win."

"Everyone is basing that on pre-season optimism. We haven’t played Hillcrest this year so we don’t know what they look like."

"I can see the team spirit just burning inside you, you’re practically glowing."

"Next question."

The rest of the interview continues much the same. Monty gives short, clipped answers and most of his attempts to draw out more get similar responses.

He’s annoyed but not surprised, Monty is stubborn as hell. He decides right before he leaves that a little payback is in order, especially since Monty is basically trying to push him out the door at this point. Justin has appeared, watching them nervously from the couch and the man who answered the door is moving around in the kitchen.

"You know, you should invite me out sometime handsome, I bet I could relieve some of that tension." He reaches up to touch Monty’s face briefly and offers a purring sound. Monty looks horrified and he’ll count that as mission accomplished as he closes the door and leaves, notes in hand to finally finish this stupid write up.

The next day he gets everything written up and published. He finds it odd that Monty isn’t at the pep rally for the big game but Justin glares at him the whole time. He shrugs it off, people don’t have to like what he writes, it’s the truth after all, and people not liking it doesn’t change its nature. Still it’s unsettling to see someone normally so upbeat maintain a wicked glare for almost an hour and a half straight, barely blinking and never letting up.

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Sheri taps on the door and waits a moment, wondering if she should even be here. Monty and Justin are both really weird about people knowing where they live and the only reason she knows is from dropping Justin off once and even that was a struggle. He wanted her to drop him off early so it would be easier for her to get back home. Even then she had only figured out their apartment number by asking the front desk and making up a story about dropping something off to one of them. She wonders if she should just turn around and leave but there’s movement inside and then the door opens, slightly. Through the crack she can see Justin who looks surprised. 

"Hi Sheri. What are you doing here?" 

His voice sounds a little nervous and her eyes narrow suspiciously but she keeps her voice calm. "Hi Justin. I’m looking for your brother. Is he home?"

"You’re looking for Monty? Why?"

"He was going to meet me after I finished cheerleading so we could get lunch but he never showed up. I thought maybe he forgot and was here?"

"Um nope. It’s just me. Sorry, wish I could help you."

Oh he’s totally lying, it’s written all over his face. Normally she wouldn’t be annoyed, in fact it’s sort of sweet that Justin is willing to cover for his brother but Monty is a hard person to coordinate with. Despite not seeming to have a lot of friends at school, he’s busy a lot of the time and she finally thought she had carved out a little chunk of time in his schedule. Him not showing hurts and she just kind of wants to know why.

A grunt sounds from behind Justin and he looks for a moment like a deer in headlights.

"Jus? Where’re those meds?"

Monty. His voice is slurred though, pained she thinks and Justin moves away from the door towards the couch in the room. A brief conversation passes between them and then Justin comes back and unlocks the door so she can come inside.

It’s dingy and dirty, the carpet is gray...but not the same shade of gray throughout while the walls are an off white and a patchwork of spackle and different paint colors. The room is tiny, a couch with a table, an armchair, and a TV, none match each other, and an even smaller kitchen is beyond. Monty is stretched out on the couch on his belly, shirt discarded on the floor in a heap. His back is a mess, dark purples and ugly greens and yellows. She can’t stand looking at it but at the same time she can’t look away because his face is somehow even worse, a black eye and bruised cheek along with a fat lip. 

This is the same boy who took her to Winter Formal and danced with her even though he was uncomfortable the whole time, who endured Bryce’s mocking so he didn’t make a scene for her and who later passed her notes in class, dry little digs at their teacher, and also waits with a bottle of water for her after practice when he can.

She opens her mouth to try to say something but he talks first.

"Mm sarry I massed ya taday. Had a run ‘n with some people."

"Are you-" Asking him if he’s okay is stupid because he isn’t, obviously isn’t and Justin reappearing with a packet for frozen peas and a dingy towel to lay across Monty’s back only proves it. "I’m sorry. I came in here to be angry at you and you- I’m sorry Monty."

He attempts to smile only for Justin to quickly scold him for making his lip bleed again and pushing a paper towel into his hand to staunch the bleeding. 

She feels terrible. Well and truly terrible. Monty wasn’t skipping out on her, how could she have thought that? No, he had much bigger problems and she feels her eyes misting up only for Monty speak again.

"When ah’m better, we’ll go out."

She doesn’t really have a reply to that, just slips her hand into his and squeezes gently.

She doesn't stay much longer, terrified of the broken boy on the couch who looks like Monty but isn’t really Monty. She feels worse after leaving, feels like a coward for not staying there but consoles herself by checking up on him through Justin as often as she can. He’s back in school three days later looking better than she had seen him at his place but there are hints of lingering bruises. Still he smiles at her and asks if Saturday at Rosie’s is good for her and she can’t help but accept and wonders if she should ask who he had a ‘run in’ with at some point but isn’t even sure what the point of that would be because if he wanted to tell her, he would. She decides to never visit that apartment again though, it was sad and small and if it weren’t for the brothers it would seem like a desolate place. 

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Clay knocks on the door and huffs his breath. One hour, this had better not take longer. Group projects were singularly the worst torture device devised by teachers but even worse were random partners or assigned partners and of all people he would be stuck with _Justin Foley_. Worse, they didn’t have any time in school to work on this so they had to find a meeting place outside. He sure as hell wasn’t telling the other boy where he lived and he wasn’t risking getting booted from the library by having it there so told Justin they were doing it at his place. Justin wasn’t happy about that but so what? It’s not like he’s going to do any work so he might as well provide the spot for them to work.

He’s about to knock again, frustrated at not being let in when the door finally opens.

Monty.

The older boy looks tense and his jaw is clenched but says after a moment. "You’re early."

"Justin said three."

"It’s two thirty."

"Well I’m here now. Are you going to let me in?"

Monty moves away from the door and he enters a small, dirty apartment. He tries not to look very hard at anything. The floor is covered in a carpet that’s probably a biohazard with how many stains are on it and several pairs of sneakers and boots are scattered haphazardly. Surprisingly there isn’t literal garbage thrown about and when they get into the kitchen it’s neater than he would have imagined, no piles of dirty dishes or evidence of rats or cockroaches or anything. Justin is sitting at the table scribbling away at something and looks surprised to see him.

The three of them sit down at the table, Monty apparently working on his own work. Justin pushes the notebook over and he’s actually made progress so he hopes for a little bit that things will go faster.

And for a bit it does, until about three when there’s a lot of noise from further back in the house. It takes several long minutes of increasingly annoying distractions for a woman to finally come out, dressed in a waitress’s uniform and looking like a mess. Monty and Justin both look tense as she looks in at them and opens her mouth to say something but knocking at the door distracts her. He can hear her open the door and yelling start and then across the table, Monty’s pencil shatters in his hand from how hard he’s gripping it.

Justin goes rigid and pale and Monty, plucks a splinter out of his finger, annoyed.

Something about rent. That’s all he can understand, the woman is plenty loud enough but her voice is too slurred for it to be clear and whoever is at the door starts off too quiet and is yelling by the end but that’s hard to understand too.

On either side of him the step brothers have very different reactions that melt into the same one. Justin’s eyes are screwed shut and his breathing is fast and shallow while Monty is tense.

When they start hearing words like ‘evict’ or mentions of utilities being turned off they both look at each other, the picture of misery until both stand up and move out of the kitchen, splitting up for Justin to go to the front of the apartment and Monty down the hallway.

Clay stands up to get a better look at the scene. The woman from before is standing near the door with a middle aged man on the heavy side with greasy black hair and small, beady eyes. Justin stands between them, speaking in a soothing voice and flinching slightly when one or the other raises their voice to talk over him. 

He can’t hear what Justin’s saying but his tone is soothing and calm; quiet it reminds Clay of someone trying to placate an angry animal.

Monty reappears, walking with purpose, a wad of money clenched in his hand and turns it over to the greasy man who triumphantly waves it in front of the woman accusing her of holding out on him. The woman slaps him and Clay wonders if he’s about to watch a brawl and if he should call the police when Monty pushes the man out the door and closes it. Justin supports the woman over to the couch where she sags down and cups his face saying, "Oh baby, you shouldn’t give him money like that. It only makes him want more."

"It’s rent Mom." Justin sounds a mixture of embarrassed, exhausted and maybe a little frustrated.

"Well he could ask for it nicely."

Monty cuts in coldly and says, "Or you could just pay the asshole like you’re supposed to on the fifteenth and we wouldn’t have this problem."

She glares at Monty as he cuts in and then demands, "Don’t take my money and don’t give it to him. How much did you pay him?"

An icy smile crosses his face as he replies, "I didn’t touch your money and I gave him enough to cover this month. We’re still half a month behind and you should probably get to work and start working to make a dent in that."

There’s another shouting match that finally ends when Justin convinces the woman, apparently his mother, to go to work.

They watch as she leaves and then come back to the table where Justin says quietly, "You should have told her it was Dad’s, now she’s going to try to find where you hide it in our room."

"She’d tell the old man I took his money. I’m more confident in hiding shit from her than I am dealing with him."

He clears his throat and that seems to refocus Justin on their work and not whatever internal problems they’re having that he doesn’t want to know anything about. Thankfully the work goes quick after that and he’s able to leave at four with the project mostly finished. They have to transfer the work they did on paper to the computer but they can do that separately and he can get out of here, and not a moment too soon.

When Justin closes the door behind him he can’t help hoping he never has to come back here ever again. It’s a shitty place filled with terrible people and he already has to see at least two of them again at school every day but maybe he’ll never have to see the others again, that would be ideal.

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Jess taps on the window and holds her breath, afraid she’s not at the right one. Monty gave her directions for the fourth window past the fifth ladder and she thinks she got it right because it’s open like he said it would be but what kind of directions are those?

There’s movement inside and Monty’s face appears, motioning for her to come in and then making room for her. Tossing her pocketbook in first she manages to awkwardly crawl in and is hit by the stench sickness. The acidic smell of bile and vomit and the heavy smell of sweat dominate the small space. On the bed next to her, stretched out on top of the blankets is Justin, his face pale, a sheen of sweat on his forehead despite it being cool outside and him being in only shorts and a tank top.

Monty returns with wet rags and uses one to mop up his face and places the others under his arms.

She suddenly feels very, very stupid. Justin hasn’t been in school all week and Monty only in the beginning of the week. She hadn’t thought much of it Monday or Tuesday and by Wednesday, Monty had stopped coming. She asked Bryce and Zach but both had told her the same thing, though in very different ways, and that was to ask Monty. She had to get his number from Zach and had texted him Thursday and then again yesterday before finally getting a response. A hasty text telling her that Justin was sick and to stop blowing up his phone.

She demanded to come see him and had sent more texts than before becoming increasingly worried and annoyed. Justin was sick and she wanted to see him, it wasn’t hard but Monty was ignoring her. Finally he had come back with a curt message giving her their address and then how to get into the apartment via the fire escape and she had been so happy to finally have an answer that she hadn’t questioned then why he was being so clandestine. She still doesn’t but now she gets why he didn’t want her here and she wished she had listened.

Justin, her Justin, looks so lifeless. None of the charming smiles or welcoming hugs or even mildly annoying basketball talk to indicate he’s even there. She could cry but thankfully doesn’t.

"You have five minutes. If anyone comes down that hall, get out this window as fast as you can."

And with that, Monty slips out himself. She can almost appreciate him trying to give her space except right now she doesn’t know what to do. Looking at Justin is painful so instead she looks around the room. That takes about two seconds. It’s small, she thinks someone tall like Zach might be able to sit on the bed and touch opposing walls. Thankfully it’s longer than it is wide but only enough to fit the bed she’s sitting on and some piece of wooden furniture that has a bowl of water resting on it along with several bottles of gatorade, one finished, one half open and the rest closed.

The walls are gray, mostly. There are stains here and there that make it more brown but the majority is gray. A wooden door is to her left and she assumes that’s a closet. The floor is wooden but not the kind of wooden floors rich people lose their minds over, it’s ugly, the wood discolored and scratched. Towards the back of the room is a large radiator that was probably painted white at some point but a lot of the paint is missing. If there were little kids here she’d be worried about them eating paint chips off the floor but thankfully there aren’t.

Underneath her is a basic bedspread, dark gray, and in desperate need of a washing but she thinks with how sick Justin is right now, it would be pointless. In all, she can’t think of a room less suited to Justin. It’s gray where he’s colorful, cold where he’s warm, ugly where he’s handsome, and lifeless when she can’t she can’t think of anyone more full of life. Actually maybe it’s fitting for him to be in it right now given how disturbingly well they match.

She laces her fingers together with his and squeezes but still can’t bring herself to look at him.

Monty comes back in a minute later and by the time he does she’s made up her mind and tells him to be here in thirty minutes. He raises an eyebrow as if to ask where else he’d be and it’s sort of a grim comfort that even if everything goes south, Monty won’t leave Justin.

She leaves through the window and heads to the convenience store she saw a few blocks away, checking her purse as she does. Ten dollars isn’t as much as she’d like but it’ll do. Motrin is the first thing on her list when she gets there. After that she picks up a bottle of gatorade because it’s cheap and Monty had a lot but another won’t hurt. She considers picking up a few more with her remaining money but then puts the one she’s holding back when she sees an offer for dinner and instead gets in line for a soup and sandwich deal. She doesn’t know if Justin can even keep the soup down but if he can it’s there, if not, it can join the sandwich and be dinner for Monty. Bonus, the meal comes with a soda and she picks up ginger ale cause if Justin can keep anything down, it’s that. Then she spends the rest on gatorade.

When she taps on the window again almost a half hour later Monty seems unamused by her return until she passes him the bag of her offerings. He blushes slightly under his freckles and mumbles a thank you.

"Is there anything else you need?"

He shakes his head and she almost offers to give him the night off but she knows he won’t take it. Instead she stays with Justin for him to take a shower and then she has to go. The upside is Monty is better about texting her back afterwards with updates on Justin and when she sees him back in school on Monday, healthy...mostly, she’s more relieved than she can remember feeling in a long time.

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Scott heaves a sigh as he climbs the last few steps. He’s not nearly high enough for this. Finding the apartment door open is a mixed blessing, he doesn’t have to knock and alert anyone to his presence but he also could be mistaken for an intruder and then his life is over. 

He takes the gamble and steps in, intent on making his way to the back of the house as fast as he can and trying not to look at anything on the way. Unfortunately he sees right into the kitchen and there, in all its glory, is the meth set up. He can’t help his lip curling. Seth. Life is even more needlessly difficult for Monty and Justin when he’s in the picture and Amber is absolutely the biggest waste of human life he’s ever seen so she’ll always go back to him eventually. He has no idea why Seth will always take her back but unfortunately he does and the result is two angry, substance abusing men to beat on his friends.

He feels the weight of the bat in his hand and wonders if he could smash the glass set up and run before anyone came out. From the sounds in the other room he knows exactly what Amber and Seth are up to and that’s honestly just disgusting. It does give him pause, a naked either of them isn’t something he ever wants to see...ever. And anyway, in the long run it would probably make life much harder for Monty and Justin.

It does make him confident that he won’t run into anyone and he heads back towards the noise, unfortunately. He ducks into the brother’s room. It’s empty but the window is open. He leaves the bat, Monty’s and the reason he’s here, under the bed. He remembers a chilling conversation he had with Monty a few months ago when the boy was wearing a cast where he mentioned he needed a new bat and a new place to hide it.

There isn’t anywhere else to hide it, the room is too small for there to be two people sharing it. He wonders where they even put their clothes because there’s only one dresser and a closet he assumes is tiny. He doubts they have a whole lot but surely they need more space than this. It’s plain too actually. In a sad way. There’s no hint of the people who live there and if it wasn’t for the fact that he already knew the brothers, there wouldn’t be anything there to tell him who they are. In all fairness, there isn’t a lot of room but posters don’t take any space and he knows between music taste and sports teams that either boy could fill the total wall space on his own and they would share it if they could because they’re like that.

In a way, in the hazy, weed saturated part of his mind still thinking, he finds it amusing and sort of fitting that in a way, the bed actually may be the personality indicator he’s looking for. The brothers don’t have much but they have, they share. Justin wears Monty’s flannel shirts to school pretty often and Monty isn’t in the habit of questioning Justin when the other boy offers him food...as long as Justin’s eaten. 

And, like everything else in their lives, the bed is shared, less by choice and more by necessity but it seems sort of right that their room, rather than testifying to them as individuals would instead speak about their relationship together as brothers. He might even be a tiny but jealous of them, maybe. But he’s willing to admit they need each other more than he needs a brother.

Shaking his head he wonders if he should move the bat to the closet but decides against it in favor of crawling out the window to join them on the roof where he’s sure they are. Mom and Dad had been gearing up for a fight when he left, something about money. She was buying a lot of things he didn’t think they needed and Scott knows from experience that eventually she’ll turn the tables and complain about his dad’s spending which will eventually lead into complaining about baseball and finally complaining about him. He could go back to that, or he could be a bum and spend the afternoon with the brothers and try to forget about life for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So full disclosure, I have never written Ryan at all, and this was my first foray into Sheri and Scott's POV, I hope they all came out alright anyway. Neither brother is prone to describing the condition of the apartment, they have other things on their mind most of the time. That said, I never really described the apartment so I thought this would be a creative way of doing it, and be some fun for me, have different characters pick out different details while bringing their own flair in doing so. 
> 
> The next chapter will be out Friday and from there I think I'll be resuming the usual posting schedule of weekly Friday updates, next chapter I'm thinking of posting a Jess lead chapter and then it's back to the boys a week after.
> 
> Let me know what you think and if you guys like the format of different narrators in the same chapter. I haven't written any more like this (beyond Monty and Justin sharing a chapter) so if you don't like this format, I won't write any more. Also big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for beta reading and for generally being amazing. You should check out her story for more good fan fiction!


	16. Comb and Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jess loves Justin, really she does, but that doesn’t mean she loves Monty too.

Jess loves Justin. He’s amazing, the first boy who has ever fully embraced her for all she is. He’s charming and smooth and when he isn’t that he’s sweet and kind and painfully gentle and surprisingly, and adorably, dorky and sometimes so innocently awkward and someone she wants to spend every waking moment with. 

She’s never had a boyfriend so willing to just sit and talk about anything and everything, who also knows how to have a good time with or without sex or drinking and while both of those made some nights better, Justin never pressures her into either. If she says no, he’s fine with that. Moreover there are a hundred little things he does and she could never name all of them and at the same time never give a value to. Love notes in her locker on most days but especially bad ones, coming to see her cheer lead even when it isn’t for him, he even helps her babysit her brothers. He walks her to classes, carries her books and bag, and he can back off and give her space, sometimes without even being asked to. Basically if she was ever willing to call a boy perfect, it would be him.

And yet, no matter how much she loves Justin, Monty terrifies her. He’s everything Justin isn’t, no matter what Justin says. She thinks it’s sweet of him to defend his brother but Monty is cold. His eyes say it all, there isn’t any love in them, only a frigid austerity that when provoked turns into an explosive anger all wrapped up in a face that could be handsome, pretty even, if he could ever seem less threatening or less closed off, preferably both.

The anger she could deal with. She’s seen his father, the man Justin awkwardly calls his dad wanting something that isn’t there, when he hears Monty always cooly corrects ‘step-dad’, but point is, she can see where all the anger would come from in Monty. She worried the first time she met the man that Justin might someday be the same kind of easily provoked, rage filled monster. That fear didn’t last long, Justin is just...fundamentally different from Monty or his dad and for that she’s happy because if he ever did become like them. Well she doesn’t really want to find out what a broken heart is like.

No the anger makes sense, and she’s confident it will never be directed at her, and reasonably confident never at Justin either. The icy disinterest, distancing, and apathetic coldness terrifies her. It’s almost as if Monty doesn’t care about anything, or isn’t even able to care about anything. And maybe she's being unfair, Jeff has said Monty loves baseball which is probably true and when she’s at those games she doesn’t really pay much attention to him so maybe he does smile and enjoy it. The problem is, even if he loves it as much as Justin loves basketball, and after probably thirty hours of listening to him talk about it she can testify that’s a lot, it still isn’t enough.

Even when she’s seen him hanging out with friends, he seems distant to the point where she isn’t sure they’re friends at all. Sure he laughs sometimes, and smiles occasionally, but it still seems...wrong. There’s still the underlying tension present in him even when everyone else is at perfect ease. The nearest she can compare it to is dread over a test or assignment or something like that. It makes him unpleasant and unpleasant to be with, at least any time she’s seen. Maybe her problem is that she doesn’t spend that much time with him but honestly she can’t bring herself to want to spend any more than necessary. It makes her feel bad, Justin would give her pretty much anything, she thinks and yet she can’t get along with his brother for him. The worst part is when she told him, he wasn’t even mad, just shrugged and said he hoped she would some day.

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She’s crying, she can’t help it even though she hates it. Her ex "accidentally" tripped and dumped a tray of food on top of her in the cafeteria. The mashed potatoes and gravy are stuck in her hair and she smells like meatloaf and _everyone_ saw. Everyone laughed. She ran. What else could she do? And yet she doesn't think there's anywhere far enough to get away from the humiliation clawing at her. Justin doesn't have the same lunch period and that's the only upside to all of this, that he didn't see it in person but she has no doubt that as soon as he looks at snapchat, he'll see videos. 

That thought makes her cry harder and pushes her to run faster until she's out the doors and down the stairs and as far as the baseball field where she climbs up into the bleechers and then the exhaustion catches up with her, more from the crying than the running but the two together don't really help.

She sits there, numb. Tears still drip down her face lazily and the gravy, now cold, oozes off her hair and onto the back of her neck. She doesn't care. At least she's trying as hard as she can to convince herself of that. It's hard but eventually she settles into a pleasant numbness, just in time to be interrupted.

"Follow me."

She looks up, afraid it's Porter or Bolan or someone taking her to the office. Instead it's Monty looking as impassive and hard as ever. He starts walking without waiting for her to answer. She has to jog to catch up with him as he leads her behind a shed. For a moment she entertains the grim idea of him murdering her back here. Instead he turns on a hose and holds his hand under it. She notices his knuckles are red, bruised and bloody but that isn't uncommon for him.

"Jess."

She realizes she's spaced out and Monty was talking.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Her face burns but Monty gives no indication of annoyance.

"Sit down and lean back." 

He gestures to a cheap plastic chair which she takes, and leans back.

The cold water makes her gasp and hold the chair arms tighter, the feeling of fingers in her hair is more so. It lasts about five minutes of Monty manipulating the water and her hair, accompanied by two word commands, 'lean back', 'lean forward', 'hold still' all of which he expects to be followed immediately. She keeps up because the alternative is getting soaked with the icy water which happens once and earns a sorry that’s said in the same tone as the commands are given.

Apparently he's satisfied at some point that the food is out because he produces a comb and mirror, hands her the latter and keeps the former. He brushes hair like she would expect him too...if she expected him to brush hair at all which she supposes she never really thought of him doing until now. The brush strokes are efficient, long, even, and not terribly gentle but also not pointlessly painful. Silence reigns.

She tilts the mirror, which she now recognizes as the chipped thing that Justin fixes his hair in when at his locker, to see Monty's face. She can't say she's surprised, either that Monty knows how to get into Justin's locker or his expression hasn't changed. She suspects it's the same one he wears all the time unless he's fully angry; cold, impassive, and carrying the distant threat of violence in every muscle. He might as well be watching TV or listening to a teacher during class. There isn't any indication he isn't doing something more normal, nothing that hints he feels anything at all about this situation.

There's a serenity too though and that surprises her. She's never thought of Monty in that way. Serene doesn’t seem quite the right word for the boy she’s seen break another boy’s nose for looking at him funny and yet it seems to fit here. She realizes then where it must come from; there are very few things he can't handle but they must numb him to everything else. Maybe the reason he is how he is can be attributed to this? Maybe the coldness is default because life for him is only the horribly overwhelming or the painfully mundane. Things he can handle and things he can't. The ones he can warrant so little response that his face doesn't change even when the task does because there's a suredness that nothing in a given situation deserves anything beyond emotional detachment and aloofness. And the ones he can't handle, that he has no answers ready for, they deserve the full explosive anger.

It's an interesting thought, something that never occurred to her. Justin swears he's misunderstood. Jeff says he's an acquired taste, Bryce says he's a wild animal. She's never talked to anyone besides Justin who openly defends him to the last and she's always ascribed it to Justin's willingness to see the best in people he's close to.

She's always thought Bryce was closest to the truth but maybe it is Justin after all. Maybe it should have been obvious, them being brothers and living together but it still surprises her anyway.

"Justin likes you a lot."

Her heart nearly stops when Monty suddenly decides to start a conversation.

"I like him a lot." She feels at a disadvantage, she knows so little about Monty but he knows so much about her, at least she assumes. Justin talks about the people he’s close to, he talks a lot about Bryce and Zach and Monty to her so she assumes Monty hears a lot about her from Justin. The problem is, no matter how much Justin says, there’s a disconnect in her mind between the the boy Justin adores; the brave, witty, big brother who is the subject of a nearly endless stream of stories and anecdotes and the distant, dispassionate boy who on a dime can be vicious and violent that she sees. Right now that disconnect means that she has no idea what he might be looking for out of this conversation and she has no way to predict what she might need or want to say.

He just nods, apparently satisfied with what he’s hearing and apparently satisfied with the job he’s done on her hair. She is too from what she can see, not salon style but it doesn't look like lunch anymore. Apparently he’s also done with saying things because he wordlessly gestures for the mirror which she hands back.

They head back into the building together, blending into the crowd of students coming back from lunch. They get as far as the main office when Bolan comes rushing out glaring at Monty.

"My office, now."

Monty rolls his eyes and passes the mirror and comb to her. "Can you put these back for me?"

She nods, bewildered, what could he have done to get that reaction? Sure he ran out of school but so did she and he didn't do anything at lunch, she’d have known. Then again Bolan hates Justin and Monty so maybe it’s vendetta related.

Stopping at Justin’s locker almost makes her late to chemistry but she shares it with Zach and is able to move into the back with him and hide. He offers her a stick of gum which she assumes from the look in his eye means he knows what happened. Maybe then he also knows what happened with Monty.

She asks about it in a low voice thankful that Mr. Long, though nice enough, is half deaf because it works to her advantage here. 

Zach wordlessly pulls out his phone and opens to a video which he plays, eleven seconds that consists of Chris where she left him in the cafeteria talking with Monty. The dull roar of the always loud room drowns out whatever words are exchanged but that isn't the point. At least she assumes because in one movement Monty’s fist makes contact with Chris’s face and then spins on his heel and walks away. The video ends right there but she assumes that’s when he came to look for her.

She doesn’t know if she should be flattered, annoyed, embarrassed or maybe all of them and a few more things. Monty didn’t need to do that for her, Justin wouldn't have needed to and he’s her boyfriend. And yet, in a way it’s touching, when taken with what he did after. Horribly violent and with conflicting messages, but touching. 

She leans back in her chair and wonders if maybe she should reevaluate Monty a little. No probably not, her problem last time was judging him without spending time with him. What she should do is fix that, get to know him better and then see if her opinion has changed. She suspects it will. He broke Chris’s nose because he was mean to her. She doesn't condone the violence, but someone willing to do that for his brother’s girlfriend can’t be that bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading. Jess is an important character to Justin, ignoring her would feel strange and writing around her is doable but as I was doing it, I realized that her relationship with Monty would be super interesting given that they both share Justin but in the show I think the longest exchange is Monty heckling her at the student counsel elections. In this AU they have more of a reason to play nice with each other but I think it's still awkward cause Monty is abrasive and Jess isn't exactly renowned for her patience. I think for the most part they keep it civil but distant, not openly friends but friendly enough to please Justin, until something big like this happens and Monty is willing to extend an olive branch but still not be very warm or welcoming about it.
> 
> Next chapter will be out next Friday, I am planning to return to my normal schedule for a while since I was able to shrink the doc I write this all in to a manageable size.
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments: how do you think Monty and Jess would react if Jess was dating Justin and Monty was his brother? Do you think the get along better or worse than I have them here? Also big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for all her help!


	17. Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post Accident: Nora goes from living in a big house with her son who has more important places to be than home and more important people to see than her and a husband so rarely home, on good days she forgets she's married to a big house with a son rarely willing to leave his room and two boys who seem to be bound by fate to her son. Needless to say, navigating life post the car crash is difficult but sometimes it's the little things that trip her up the most.

Nora is on her way to the study when she hears Bryce complaining about being hungry from his room. She should be a good mother and go check on him but dealing with his surliness this early in the morning is not appealing in any way. Besides, if he was willing to use the damn crutches he would be able to get breakfast himself instead of relying on Justin to bring it to him like some kind of servant but she thinks the younger boy has sufficiently spoiled him into not ever doing so. 

Not that she isn’t thankful to Justin because he’s the only reason Bryce is even occasionally tolerable, his presence seems to satisfy Bryce in a way it hasn’t for years, soothing his rages, feeding his ego to get him out the sullen moods, and generally providing a verbal punching bag, emotional support teddy bear, and always sympathetic listener all in one even when she and Monty would rather walk away from his door and leave him to his sulking or raging. That Justin has chased after the physical therapist and convinced him not to quit more than once is embarrassing but makes her life much easier. 

She continues down the hall and passes the room Monty and Justin share, on nights when Justin doesn’t fall asleep next to Bryce and Monty next to Justin. The door is open and she sees Justin still in bed. It’s a school day and she taps on the door, intent on reminding him of as much when Monty squeezes past her with a tray of cereal, a glass of water, and pills.

"I brought breakfast."

It’s like she isn’t there, his tone is so gentle that she can’t reconcile it to the boy she knows and all his repressed emotions and emotional detachment covering a boiling rage.

"C’mon sit up." She watches as Monty sets the tray at the end of the bed and eases Justin up, helping him lean against the pillows before setting the tray across his lap and says, "I need you to eat some of this for me, can you do that?"

As he reaches for the spoon Justin asks, "Did you get Bryce’s breakfast?"

She doesn’t need to be able to see Monty’s face to picture the expression but to his credit, and she’s honestly impressed, he replies evenly, "I will after you take those pills."

Justin does without a fuss and Monty reaches a hand out to brush the younger boy’s hair saying, "Alright I’ll go feed Bryce and then come back and make sure you’re good before I leave. You’ll be fine till I get back?"

A nod and Monty turns. She steps away in time to make sure it didn’t look like she was listening in on them but stops Monty in the hall. "Is Justin okay?"

The look she receives is the full force of Monty’s ‘talking to an idiot’ expression before he wipes it away and replies, "He’s got a fever, probably be fine in a few days."

He slips past her to go down to the kitchen and for a moment she stands in the hall before continuing to her office. 

She dials the school on auto pilot and it isn’t until she hears the secretary's voice that she realizes what she’s doing. 

"Yes excuse me, I was just calling to update the school. My son Bryce Walker is still not ready to come in but his work is being brought to him and completed."

It’s pointless and the secretary knows as well but all she receives is a polite, "Thank you Mrs. Walker I hope you both are getting along well and we’re looking forward to having Bryce back with us soon. Until then take all the time you need and thank you for calling to update us.”

They exchange goodbyes and hang up and she berates herself internally. Justin isn’t her child, nor does she think the school knows he and Monty have been living here almost full time since Bryce got out of the hospital. There’s no reason for her to call him out sick, nor does she have the grounds to, she isn’t his guardian despite the situation.

She intends to stay in her office and get to work but just as she opens her computer and begins going through emails, noise from outside pulls her out. Normally she’d ignore it except the sound was of something shattering and that’s a problem, especially when accompanied by yelling.

Once outside the room, she finds that the commotion is from Bryce’s bedroom and Bryce is doing the yelling, how surprising.

When she enters it takes a good second to look over the scene. Bryce is in bed, yelling angrily about breakfast being late and not what he wanted. A tray rests on his lap but the only thing on it is milk. Monty stands rigid and stony while Bryce yells, and against the wall opposite the bed, the shattered remains of a bowl and the strewn about cereal that had been in it. 

"What are you doing?"

Bryce seems to notice her and to her surprise says sullenly, "I want Justin."Arms cross over his chest making him look like a pouting child and looking almost affronted that Justin isn’t there.

Monty answers for her, "He’s sick."

"So? He’ll get over it."

Monty walks away. She can’t tell if it’s because he can’t be bothered to give a reaction or to prevent himself from attacking Bryce. It does mean she has to deal with him without back up which as his mother she shouldn’t need and it’s a little sad she wishes Monty was still there or even better, Justin was feeling up to smoothing this mess out. Part of her wants to tell him she’ll send Marrisa up with breakfast and to clean up when the woman gets here and absolve herself of dealing with this any further.

Instead she says levelly, "He’ll only get over it with proper rest. I don’t have time to make you breakfast, Marrisa will have to when she gets here. In the meantime, you can clean up the mess you made."

Bryce rolls his eyes, "How am I supposed to do that when I can’t walk?"

She resists the urge to roll hers even though they’ve been over this a thousand times. Instead she crosses the room to his desk and drags his chair and the waste basket over to the mess and leaves them there, explaining as she does, "You can use the crutches." She picks up the three large pieces of the bowl herself, the last thing she needs is him cutting his fingers on them, but she leaves all the food.

He looks at her balefully. "You can’t be serious."

"I am."

"That’s going to take forever."

"You should have thought of that before you threw your breakfast."

He gives her a dark look and when he replies, the whine is gone from his voice. "Cereal is disgusting and Monty knows I hate it."

"I doubt very much that Monty knows all of you likes and dislikes. He was trying to help and you were ungrateful. I’d tell you to apologize if I thought you could do it sincerely." 

He grumbles at her and she leaves, not willing to stand there and watch him do it, he’d put on an act and ensure he wasted as much of her time as possible. Instead she returns to her office and begins working through her emails for real this time.

She glances at the clock later and realizes it’s almost noon, it seemed like it should have been earlier. Her stomach rumbles reminding her that lunch is probably a good idea and she should probably check on Bryce and Justin, for different reasons. 

Justin’s room is empty, covers pulled up in a sloppy attempt to make the bed. She moves further down the hall and isn’t surprised to find Justin in Bryce’s room instead, curled up on the bed like a favorite pet with a blanket tossed over him haphazardly while Bryce watches TV. The mess is cleaned up but the chair is back where it belongs so she has a feeling Justin did it, not Bryce. It leaves a sour taste in her mouth.

He looks up at her, a smirk on his face as if to confirm what she suspects while he pats Justin’s head, waking him up enough for him to lift his head looks around before deciding the world is less interesting than the inside of his eyelids and she thinks he’s asleep before his head reaches the mattress.

"You’ll be miserable if you catch whatever he has."

Bryce snorts. "He gets sick all the time and Monty never catches it."

It bothers her how flippant he seems with Justin’s health as well as his own but this isn’t the first time she’s seen Justin sick either, just the first time it’s arguably her problem. "Monty doesn’t have a compromised immune system."

"I’ll be fine and he wants to be here right Justy, you don’t want to leave do you?"

A mumble that could have been a ‘yes’ as easily as just noise is the only reply but Bryce clearly wants to think it was a yes as he replies, "See? He’ll be lonely if you make him leave."

She actually thinks Justin might be incapable of leaving at the moment anyway so she doesn’t bother to continue the conversation and instead tells Marrisa to send up some medicine and lunch for two. 

She corners Monty in the kitchen later as he’s making toast.

"Bryce said Justin always gets sick."

"And?"

"When was the last time either of you got your immunization shots?"

Monty shrugs and sets about collecting the finished toast.

"Aren’t they required for school, and don’t the teams need extra ones?"

Another shrug even though she knows she’s right. She hesitates though on the next question because she already knows the answer but she needs to hear it, or hear it denied by Monty. It’s sure to upset him though and with Justin sick, she isn’t sure the trade off of annoying the only other person who can help her take care of Bryce is worth getting an answer she already knows.

She asks anyway. "So you forge the paperwork?" 

He turns to look at her finally, eyes cool, daring her to continue, and asks, "Is there a point to this conversation?"

She’s not sure there is and drops it. He leaves to bring dinner up to Justin, she only sees him in passing for the rest of the night because he spends it in Bryce’s room presumably taking care of Justin and Bryce.

Night comes and goes, she doesn’t check in on the boys and doesn’t hear any yelling so she’s relatively certain all three of them survive to morning without her making sure. Sadly, her fear and prediction comes true and Bryce wakes up sick and with the need to make sure they all know.

She doesn’t go in to tell Bryce that she told him so but that’s because she only goes in long enough to make sure he is being overly dramatic like she suspects and isn’t dying like he claims. Once she’s satisfied that the only casualty from this will be her sanity, she’s all too happy to pass the job of taking care of Bryce off to Monty until the other boy goes to school. Justin sleeps through the whole affair as far as she can tell though she suspects Monty wakes him up at some point for food and medicine.

Bryce being sick is every bit as aggravating and tedious as she expects between his increased irritability from being sick on top of his bad attitude from life. Justin remains sick all the way up until the last day Bryce is sick so Monty bears the brunt of it with stony disinterest. She’s impressed because Bryce is cruel, he doesn’t see anyone without a cutting jibe about something, reminding her about how she apparently wasn’t good enough to keep her husband faithful, done with all the subtlety Bryce’s sick mind could muster, which is to say varying. He asks about the funeral and the other woman with a black veil, or how it felt to be replaced by someone half her age and better able to satisfy. 

Monty of course isn’t safe either but for the most part, the other boy deals with it in silence until Bryce callously asks him how it feels that Justin prefers his best friend’s company to his step-brother’s. It’s a moment she’s legitimately worried for Bryce’s life because Monty’s eyes burn with a fire she’s only heard about in whispered conversations that end when she gets too close, and seen for milliseconds of when the unfairness of the world was briefly more than Monty could handle.

It lasts for a minute or so, Monty gripping the soda can he’s holding hard so that he breaks holes in the thin aluminum before reigning it in and asking Bryce how it felt that when he added up all his friends, there was only one. After that Bryce was considerably more careful when trading barbs with Monty and they limited interactions between each other a lot.

Oddly it’s the last day that proves the saddest part of the whole affair because in true Justin fashion once he feels better, all he wants to do is help Bryce and Monty forbids it on the grounds of preventing Justin from catching it again.

They come to a compromise and Justin resumes his duties as cook, something she thinks both she and Monty are happy to have the option for more than a cold breakfast, but he isn’t allowed in the room.

By the time the week is over, all three of them are healthy again but exhausting doesn’t even begin to cover the whole ordeal. She’ll honestly just be happy to get back to some small amount of normalcy, or what passes as such in the pre-crash world. Justin resumes his self appointed duties in dealing with Bryce, she and Monty back away, and Bryce is back to his standard level of cruelty. It isn’t perfect but it’s a lot better than dealing with sick people and that’s what she reminds herself every time Bryce lashes out or tries to make life more difficult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. Good thing I have these pre-written because I got very little done with week in terms of writing or reading or anything fun! In any case, it's been a while since I posted chapter about the crash so I thought I would drop one and catch you guys on on Bryce, Nora, and the brothers now living with them and of course Bryce is terrible. This whole chapter started as an idea in my head about Nora's phone call to the school and obviously it grew way past that. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, hopefully you guys agree.
> 
> Next chapter will be out in a week and I think it'll be a Justin lead chapter featuring Casey, Bolan, and a few other characters, with of course the brothers.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below, big shout out to my beta reader De_la_Cruz87 for all her help.


	18. Empathy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin is forced into an argument in communication that forces him to question a fundamental part of who he is as a person. Luckily Monty is around to help clear his doubt.

Communications should be a boring class, and that’s all but when Justin walked in at the start of the marking period and saw Casey he knew it wasn’t going to be that simple. Somehow they’ve gone several weeks in relative peace but that changed today. Instead of being able to daydream about taking a nap for forty minutes, he has Casey going head to head with Ramon over the subject of pain and oppression and who has it worse, women or Latin Americans. It’s got to be about the stupidest conversation in the world because pain shouldn't be measured and debated, all of that is better spent trying to heal.

Mrs. Bradley doesn’t seem to have any idea how to defuse the conversation while the discussion devolves more and more into a competition of who can say the nastiest thing of questionable accuracy. Casey is claiming jocks and sports are the root of all evil, Ramon is calling her a fema-nazi.

"Your argument doesn’t make sense, how can it be worse to be treated as an outsider because you're from a different culture than to be oppressed by your own culture? Women are less represented in every way across every race and ethnic group than men in every high paying profession. But I guess since you only think about baseball you don’t know this."

"I don’t get how you think that being treated differently based on a real, physical difference is worse than the imagined difference that comes from skin color. Last I checked men don’t have tits and women don’t have dicks, at least that’s real! But you don’t really care about that cause it would force you to acknowledge that some things are bigger than your personal mission!"

The yelling is getting worse and he glances at his phone but not even a minute has passed since the last time he looked and he can feel his heartbeat speed up as Ramon pounds on his desk to make a point. Not to be outdone, Casey drops a pile of textbooks on hers to make a louder noise and continues her argument and they go back and forth several more times pointing fingers and screaming and finally he stands up because he needs to move and get out of the room and somewhere away from the angry voices except it can’t work out that way.

As soon as he stands up Casey, who’s just finished talking, seems to see his movement as a challenge to whatever she was saying and before Ramon can even reply she cuts in, "Foley has something to say? Stupid I’m sure, I doubt you’ve ever had a real thought in your head."

He blushes but Ramon comes to his defense...sort of, "Anything Justin thinks at least makes more sense than what you’ve got in your head. I bet he agrees with me, right? C’mon, tell her she’s wrong."

"Actually-"

"Gross. I don’t need a man’s help, sit down and shut up Justin. No one asked you to participate."

"This is a class discussion right? So I can talk if I want to." He glances at Mrs. Bradley who looks relieved and nods for him to continue even though it’s not a smart idea and he should really just ask to go to the bathroom but maybe if he can convince them he’s right it’ll all be better? Like how cool would it be if they could both acknowledge the other’s point and the isolation they feel?

"I don’t think we can measure pain. You can never really know how another person feels or what they're going through or have been through because the same events affect people in different ways. Instead, you can accept that they’re hurt and try to help them because that’s better than wasting time trying to figure out how to measure pain, right? We should try to understand each other and help as best we can and-"

"Like you know anything about pain Mr. Star Athlete. What could you possibly have felt that even comes close to what generations of women have suffered? And how can you pretend to even have an idea of how to help them? In fact, who says we even want your help!"

"I can’t know what kind of pain they went through but I can hurt because they hurt and try to-"

"Are you even stupider than I thought?"

He blushes but replies anyway, "I don’t think it’s stupid to want share pain with each other. If we understand each other better than doesn’t that fix the problem over time? Like if we can understand each other, we can start fixing the problems and teach our kids and they won’t make the same mistakes as us-"

"So women are supposed to wait generations until men get their heads out of their ass to see real change? Fuck you. Get off your high horse and come down to where people actually have problems and you’ll see waiting isn’t an option."

He doesn’t get a chance to reply and that wouldn’t be a bad thing except that the interruption is Bolan coming in. The man looks around the room, rolls his eyes and points at him, Ramon, and Casey and says, "My office. Now."

Casey glares at him like he somehow summoned Bolan and Ramon moves robotically. Monty is going to kill him. Well, Coach probably will too but they’re related. Coach agreed to small training sessions, the two of them and Zach, as long as Justin stayed out of trouble. They’re amazing but they’re also a lot of work, book work to keep their grades at least a B and basketball to try to perfect their play. He likes it cause-without it he’d feel the loss of work more but more than that Coach says they could both get scholarships for basketball with enough work. But Coach’s rules were them staying out of trouble and he was doing so good for months. He bit his tongue when he wanted to talk back to Mrs. Burns, didn’t roll his eyes when Mr. Contrarez complained about messy assignments instead of being happy they got done. He even managed not to skip Spanish for weeks even though Jess has lunch that period.

All for nothing because he decided to try to participate in a class discussion. It’s a bitter pill to swallow. Worse because he can kiss college goodbye. Well maybe not that extreme but it isn’t as far from the truth as he’d like. Without the extra practice from Coach it’ll be that much harder to get the scouts to take notice and pick him out of all the other schools and kids they’ll visit. He figures with the extra help he’s got a decent shot, without it, no way. He needs the full ride, without it he'll never be able to pay.

Once in the office, he endures a long lecture by Bolan about the importance of civil discussion of ideas. He ends up being stuck between Ramon and Casey for it too and he thinks he might be able to physically feel the hatred the two have for each other rolling off of them like waves but it keeps them from trying to interrupt Bolan and slow this process down.

In the end Casey ends up standing up and walking out claiming she doesn’t need the patriarchy to tell her what to do and Bolan gets distracted by her and forgets to deal with them leaving him and Ramon awkwardly.

They don’t talk even after Bolan leaves the office to chase after Casey, not for several minutes. They’re not really friends, Ramon plays baseball and they know each other through that but their interactions don’t go much further than friendly when they see each other. 

Unfortunately, Bolan must be in the fight of his life because after ten minutes he still isn’t back and in an effort to end the silence he hesitantly asks, "Do you ever think you could?"

"Hmm?"

Clearing his throat and recognizing the other boy was most likely daydreaming and not paying attention he repeats, "Do you ever think you could try understanding how Casey sees the world?"

The other boy snorts and replies, "It’s a nice theory Justin, but as long as people like Casey exist, it’s dead. They’re right and everyone else is wrong and that’s it."

"Oh. Yea, I guess you’re right."

Silence returns after that because there isn’t anything more to say and he kicks himself internally again. All of the trouble he’s going to get in just because he had to open his big mouth and say stupid shit. If people could really listen to each other’s problems the world would already be better. 

13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW

Monty picks him up. Technically it isn’t allowed but they’ve done this enough time by now for Bolan to know that they can wait until seven and no one will come so he might as well let Justin go at four when Monty comes then waste everyone’s time. Ramon was picked up forty minutes ago and Casey never came back so he’s feeling ever so slightly resentful he’s stuck there. At the same time he’d almost rather wait until nine when Mom gets off because she won’t care. He doesn’t want to face Monty any sooner than he has to.

When the other boy comes his face is smooth and expressionless as he listens to Mrs. Wren complain briefly about parents leaving their children unsupervised and the breakdown of order before Bolan appears and waves them to go. The older boy is silent as they walk through the mostly empty school, a few clubs here and there having meetings breaking up the otherwise creepy silence of school after hours.

They go as far as the short retaining wall around the school where Monty hops up and opens his backpack, pulling out a greasy bag of take out food from which he produces two burgers and a container of fries.

The first bite tastes like ash, it almost feels like a last meal before execution but Monty breaks the silence after that first bite.

"I talked to Coach Patrick after I heard what happened. He was disappointed until I showed him the video, then he understood. If I were you I’d be ready for a speech on picking your battles tomorrow but he’s pretty pissed at Bolan so maybe not."

"What?"

Monty looks at him oddly and then says, "People have phones Justin, the whole thing was recorded. Bolan was probably being a hard ass cause he was angry. Casey and Ramon could be heard all the way down the hall and people kept telling him to do something about it." 

"So you knew?" 

Monty raises an eyebrow. "Of course."

"I’m sorry. I risked so much for something so worthless and I shouldn’t have, you’ve done so much to help me get this scholarship and I almost threw it away from some stupid idea and-"

"Justin."

His breath hitches and Monty sets his burger down in its wrapping, reaching out to cup the side of his face. There’s an intensity he doesn’t see often in Monty’s eyes, not this kind at least. Usually the intensity is fight or flight related but this is different. It’s somehow warmer while still keeping the same resolve.

"Do you know the thing I admire most about you?"

He shakes his head because there really isn’t much about him someone like Monty could admire, his brother is pretty much a better version of him in every way.

"It's that you’re never too busy for a friend’s problems. You have a gift. No one can make Zach relax when his mom is planning his future like you and you filled the bleachers with Bryce’s friends to remind him he wasn’t forgotten when his dad didn’t come to one of his games. You called out Scott’s parents for their shit and Sheri appreciates the notes you leave in her 

locker. You may not understand our problems but that doesn’t stop you from hurting because we hurt.”

"I don’t think it matters." It doesn’t seem like it does at least. What good is trying to help people in pain if the pain continues?

"It matters."

The intensity in Monty’s voice contrasts with the thumb softly brushing his cheek.

"At least it mattered to me. That first night we spent at the hotel? That changed me. No one ever did for me what you did."

Justin remembers that night...partly. It was basically world war three in the house, he doesn't remember how it started or how it escalated or even what was said, he just knows he and Monty half carried each other with Monty slurring out directions for where to go. It was the longest walk of his life and it ending with a battered tent in an abandoned building seemed fitting for that night but he thinks it was later, when they were laying down, that Monty’s referring to now. 

He doesn’t remember why, but the conclusion came to him like a bolt from the blue, that Monty’s dad truly didn’t love his own son. He had been holding onto hope that the man was like Mom and terrible at expressing it but still loved his son somewhere under all that anger, that maybe he was somehow like Monty and buried emotions he didn’t know what to do with and covered them with anger, detachment, and drinking. Something that night made him realize this wasn’t it and the realization came to him lying next to Monty. He remembers hugging the other boy carefully, they both had tender ribs for a week afterwards and it wasn’t even their worst problem, and crying.

Literally years later he remembers the conversation, whispering in hushed tones across the silence of the tent. He apologized, and Monty asked why. He said because Monty's dad didn't love him and Monty snorted and said it didn't matter. He insisted it did but Monty was too brave to admit it. He remembers crying for Monty because the other boy couldn’t and he remembers Monty holding him closer that night than he ever had before.

"You have an empathy no one else I know has and don’t ever let anyone tell you that isn’t worth it or isn’t special. You understand?"

He’s shocked and pleased and a little embarrassed all at the same time but he nods.

"Say yes."

"Yes."

"Good, now let's finish eating, I’m hungry."

And that’s it, they don’t say anything else about it but he isn’t sure what else there is to say. The conversation leaves him feeling strangely pleased with himself but he still wishes he could do more. Maybe he’s just being greedy, helping Monty should be more than enough, he owes the older boy more than he’ll ever be able to repay so at least he’s started!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter, here we have Casey being the worst, as usual and Ramon acting as a counterbalance, too bad Justin is in the middle. I think Justin's empathy is an important part to his character, both in the show and in this fic so I wanted to write a chapter to explore his feelings on it in a setting that didn't require him to explain them in a dull an unrealistic way. I also realized pretty quickly on that Casey would be a good vehicle for this because she seems utterly devoid of empathy for anyone in the show, including the survivors she claims to be standing up for. However it wasn't fair ignore her valid points, only to criticizes her people skills and in the same vein I wanted to give her someone to argue against who had equally valid points but a similarly unpleasant way of communicating them. The result was a communication class discussion gone wrong. Hopefully it's believable and at least enjoyable to read, the scene I mention at the end between Monty and Justin is one I plan to write eventually because it will be a big turning point for Monty's character.
> 
> Next chapter should be out on Tuesday because I have the day off and want to share the love but I'm undecided on which to put out besides a Monty lead chapter. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy, big shout out to De_La_Cruz87 for all her help and I can't wait to hear what you guys think in the comments!


	19. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set early in the time line, Monty decides to make the most of his new step brother and Scott dispenses some unasked for wisdom.

Monty turns the volume on the TV up a little higher to try blocking out the disgusting sounds down the hall. He expected the marriage to fall apart but not this fast though in retrospect he doesn’t know why he thought it would last longer given the people involved. He checks his phone in hopes anyone he’s reached out to has replied but Jeff was a long shot and Scott’s phone is probably dead since the moron never remembers to check it. Bryce is the one he’s holding out hope for but the other boy isn’t very happy with him so he wasn’t exactly expecting a life line, more so hoping desperately for something he didn’t even believe in.

The front door opens and he watches lazily as Justin enters, looking red faced and puffing slightly, obviously having just run up the stairs like he always does. Monty will never understand his rush to get here.

"Where were you?" He doesn't care, but he’s bored and voices will drown out the ambiance sounds no one asked for.

"Bryce’s." Justin says it with all the ignorance of someone who doesn’t know Monty’s texted the other boy three times in four hours to hang out and a flush comes to his face as he realizes Bryce has been ignoring him intentionally but Justin continues, his voice suddenly urgent.

"I saw Dad pulling into the garage when I was coming in. He’s probably not far behind me."

Well fuck. That isn’t what he wanted to hear. The old man isn’t supposed to be back for another few hours and if he catches that happening down the hall, cracking one skull won’t be enough for him. He’s standing up as an idea forms in his head. He could set the smoke detectors off and force the building to evacuate but that’s illegal and he’d be caught, the smoke detectors are all linked but the system can tell which one was originally set off. That means he has to do this the hard way. 

He grabs the keys lying on the table where the boyfriend left them, walks down the hall, throws the door to the master bedroom’s door open, grabs the wallet on the nightstand and takes off, thankfully without seeing as much as he expected. Still too much obviously, anything would be too much under the circumstances but he didn’t see Amber full naked so that’s one scarring memory he isn’t going to need to repress. Justin’s gone by the time he enters back into the living room but he wasn’t expecting help anyway.

The screaming and shouting behind him tells him everything he needs to know. He heads for the stairs, the old bastard always takes the elevator after work and if he’s piss drunk like Monty thinks he is now, he’s definitely not trying to walk up the stairs. Unfortunately, going from naked to chasing a wallet snatcher takes some time so he has to wait for the idiot to pull on clothes before he can get the plan going in earnest and this is the dangerous part, well the most dangerous part. If the old man gets off the elevator before Monty can lure this guy to the stairs, it’s all for nothing.

Somehow, it works and he gets the asshole into the stairwell without his dad coming up and then the chase starts in earnest. He jumps down several at a time, angry curses much closer to him than he’d like but he doesn’t get caught even as he bursts out into the lobby and sprints towards the door. 

In the streets, he leads the man further from the apartment building and towards the park. He hasn’t run this much in a long time and it’s tempting to just drop the thing and circle back but he needs to keep this brain dead idiot from returning once he’s gotten his wallet back which means he needs the guy so disgusted he never wants to see Amber again. He makes it into the park and flings the wallet and keys into the fountain.

A satisfying splash and a lot more cursing follow but the man drops off chasing him in favor of getting his things back and Monty is finally able to circle back to the house. He runs the first few blocks but his lungs are ready to give out so he shifts back to walking. He’s slow about it. He isn’t all the eager to get back in case things didn’t work out according to plan but at the same time he doesn't have anywhere else to go and hanging around with a potentially soggy and angry dude looking for him isn’t a good idea either so he stretches out the walk and besides, he doesn’t want to get back looking suspiciously out of breath, or at least not more so than going up several flights of stairs would cause.

By the time he returns to the apartment he finds the stench of sex covered in a cheap, flowery air freshener fog and the old man and Amber are fighting lazily about something he can’t be bothered at the moment to figure out because it gives him the ability to sneak into the apartment without any questions. Justin is in their room when he gets in, sitting on the bed, fully dressed and window open. He motions for Monty to follow and slips out the window. 

A nap sounds better than whatever this is but with the old man and Amber arguing it’s not only impossible but also probably not smart. They don’t sound angry with each other and there hasn’t been any hitting yet but neither of those things mean anything long term so with a reluctant sigh, he follows the other boy out the window and then all the way up.

Justin is sitting out on the black tar roof, legs dangling off the side and looking over at the mountains to the south. He debates joining him or not. The roof is huge and from the looks of it, no one comes up here often so he could go to the other side and they could coexist in a significantly larger space than their tiny ass room. 

Right before he does just that, Justin speaks. "We made a pretty good team back there."

His voice is hesitant and Monty snorts. "What do you mean ‘we’. I did all the work."

Justin turns to face him, grinning slightly. "You did all the hard work. I rode the elevator around a bit so your dad couldn’t come up fast and then I sprayed the house down so he wouldn’t smell anything. I may also have heaved Al’s clothes out the window so they weren’t in the room anymore. Mom isn’t happy but she can’t say anything without admitting what she was doing."

Huh. Not bad. He looks Justin over appraisingly. It’s true that he did the hard stuff and yet Justin’s background work made sure this all came together rather than blowing up in their faces. He crosses the roof and takes a seat on the same ledge Justin is on, a few feet away from the other boy so they aren’t yelling to talk.

"We did make a pretty good team." There isn’t a point in denying what’s obviously true. This is the biggest example of their cooperation paying off but in the past they’ve managed other successes; Justin distracting the landlord while he searches the house frantically for enough money to keep their utilities from being turned off...again. Less interestingly but still important, making sure one of Amber’s other boyfriends drank the spoiled milk by switching containers on him, that got a fast breakup as intended, or hiding the meth but keeping the weed out for a different boyfriend to try to get a more peaceful night. 

It’s sort of nice knowing there’s someone else in the apartment whose goals are roughly aligned with his and who can have his back and help him prevent things from going worse. Maybe they could even make things better, under the right circumstances.

"We could keep making a good team too." He’s made his decision, if Justin refuses him-well he’s lived without the other boy’s help before and he’ll keep doing it. He doesn’t need anyone, ever. But that doesn’t mean he’s stupid enough to not try getting someone on his side to help.

Of course the kid’s face lights up like a fucking Christmas tree as he replies, "Yea. We could. We’ll be unstoppable together!"

He snorts. "Don’t get carried away"

Justin looks a little embarrassed but his grin remains as he says, "Maybe not unstoppable but we can always come up here when we need to escape. Dad can’t fit through the window and Mom is afraid of heights."

He nods. It’s something, won’t be great come winter or in a heatwave but at least it’s something close. He can always bring Justin to the Hobo Hotel if it becomes necessary. Maybe. He may have made it but it’s Scott’s place too, their place. It feels wrong to bring Justin in without giving him some say in the matter.

They end up staying up there for a long time after, Justin talking occasionally but not seeming annoyed by his short replies and he’s impressed the other boy shuts up and lets the silence continue for as long as he does sometimes. He’s always assumed the other boy was constantly talking because he seems to be whenever he’s outside the apartment. It’s kind of nice in a way. He can just exist up here and be free from worry and responsibility and he finds himself daydreaming, just a little, of a world where survival isn’t the goal of every day and there’s something more to look forward to. He crushes that before it gets too far ahead of him but it’s nice for a few moments.

13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW

"So you and the kid are finally on the same page?"

Scott’s trying, and failing, to blow smoke circles and Monty thinks that’s why he’s doing this now, he’s frustrated and high so he’s going to try to be deep. He grunts in response.

"I’m happy. I’ve been hoping you’d warm up to each other."

He snorts.

"Really. I think the two of you working together makes a whole lot more sense than working separately for the same thing. Besides, someone having your back might not be a bad thing someone you can trust and be you around-"

"I’m me all the time and I have you for that anyway."

Scott shakes his head. "It’s different, we’re friends but Justin could be your brother."

He cuts Scott off before his ramblings can get any more incoherent. "He already is."

Of course Scott when high has never been good at taking a hint. "Nah, he’s your step brother and basically a stranger to you. I mean your brother, you know, some things are thicker than blood sort of deal. Someone who's more than the guy you work with, someone you fight for and who fights for you, someone you can be vulnerable around instead of always keeping up that armor you wear."

"I’m not wearing armor, this is who I am and in case you haven’t noticed people stopped doing that a long time ago; it doesn’t work."

Scott gives him a sad look and says, "You do. And I think it’s heavy and weighs you down even if you won’t admit it."

"You’re stupid."

Scott grins. "I know but I don’t think I’m wrong about this." He tosses the finished blunt to the ground and grinds it into the dirt with the toe of his sneaker. "And I hope I’m right that Justin can get past that armor of yours, I’d like to know my best friend when he isn’t trying to survive and keep up appearances."

He stands up and claps him on the shoulder. "Imma get back to this party. Oh, if you ever need to bring him to the hotel, do it. If I come later on I’ll figure out something."

"Scotty?"

The boy turns back around.

"You should try to control that imagination of yours."

"I’ll try to remember that the next time we’re sitting in English and you want me to entertain you."

He laughs and Scott does too because it’s their only period together and that’s it’s only redeeming quality. Scott raises his cup as cheers and Monty finds his bottle to do the same before Scott turns and heads back inside to join the crowd. He wonders what it says about the other boy’s perception that he came with Justin tonight and besides Bryce, Jeff, and Scott, hasn’t talked to anyone else for more than five minutes. He also wonders what it means that of them, he enjoyed Justin’s company the most. Then again, that seems like a problem to deal with when he isn’t slightly buzzed and fighting a headache from being surrounded by people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. This was supposed to go up last night but I totally forgot until I needed to go to bed and then didn't have time to get it all ready, sorry about that. Anyway, this chapter is set early in the timeline before Monty has warmed up to Justin and this is par to he process to it happening. It's a precursor to Justin's first night at the hobo hotel which is a scene I've mentioned before and I plan to write so this one had to come out first. 
> 
> Sorry for being late on posting this and next one should be out Friday and I think I'll be putting out a chapter with Justin and his part time job since I set a several arc around their employment/employer and I might as well get it started.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below. Happy reading an also a big thank you to De_La_Cruz87 for all her help beta reading and you should check out her page here because she has some great stories posted too!


	20. Nash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They need money for bills. Monty already works construction part time with Dad so simple math and common sense says he should get a job. Unfortunately Monty is stubborn so he goes behind his brothers back to pick up some part-time work. He meets Nash, a strange man who hires him after initially refusing, and also hires Monty, beginning a strange, and pretty wonderful period in his and Monty's life.

Justin’s pulling his sneakers on, coat already on as Monty waits for him at the door. It’s dinner so basically the best part of the day, well at least since lunch and before bedtime, but still, point is it’s amazing. There isn’t anything in the house...well nothing safe to eat at least so they’re lazily talking about where to go when there’s pounding on the door. Monty checks out the peephole and Justin can tell by the way his body goes tense that it isn’t good and when Monty opens the door and Dan is on the other side, he understands why. The man, out of breath as always, pants twice before saying, "Your unit still owes me money for the water bill." He looks at the money Monty’s holding and then holds his hand out expectantly. When it isn’t given to him immediately, he gets angry, his beady little eyes narrowing and he licks his lips, Justin personally thinks he salivates the moment even something as small as a penny wanders near him, and says, "I’m owed three hundred dollars."

Monty’s voice is carefully blank when he replies, "We can get it to you by Friday."

"I’ll have to turn off your water if you make me wait that long." He pauses and then says, "But I might be convinced to let you have an extension if I got something now, as a proof of good faith." He not so subtly looks at the money again.

"It’s twenty dollars."

"Twenty dollars that might improve my opinion of this problem apartment, unless you don’t need your water, wouldn’t be the first time I shut it off."

Monty looks back at him unhappily but he motions for the older boy to do it, water is too important to lose, not having dinner tonight will suck but maybe he can convince Bryce to feed them tomorrow.

Monty hands the money over reluctantly which is followed by a triumphant smirk from Dan who snidely remarks, "Pleasure doing business with you." And then he’s gone, silence for a moment and then Monty breaks it, "I guess homework now."

It’s a poor replacement for eating but he sighs but they head back to the room to start homework. It’s the beginning of a long, hungry night. As they lay awake, stomachs growling and willing themselves to fall asleep for some relief, he wonders about getting a job. Monty always insists he needs to focus on school and basketball but really he should find a job. Maybe with four paychecks coming in they wouldn’t always be struggling to pay bills and buy food but then he knows any job he gets won’t be enough to really make an impact on anything meaningfully besides making sure there’s a little extra money floating around for booze or drugs.

Early morning turns into a fiasco when Dad comes home from the bar drunk and attempts to use the bathroom only to find their water has apparently been shut off. He can hear Dan’s mocking voice say ‘I said it _might_ convince me to give you another grace period, turns out it didn’t’. It shouldn’t be surprising, the man is a cheap, lying piece of shit but he could have at least let them enjoy dinner last night rather than taking their only money. Instead, Dad punches a hole through the wall, then goes around screaming which wakes Mom up, well it wakes all of them up and probably others too, but Mom goes out and yells at him and somehow it ends with him and Monty staying at the hobo hotel, his cheek already darkening in a bruise and Monty’s ribs a little worse for the wear.

School the next day is a long, slow slog to the final bell and Monty has an extended practice at the end of it which will probably feel longer for him because of pain. At least the morning starts out right with him convincing Zach to buy them breakfast and Bryce gets him lunch, ‘stop looking so pathetic Justy, I’ll get you something to eat’, but that still leaves dinner to figure out.

By the time the last bell has rung he’s made up his mind and catches the bus home to maximize the amount of time he has to do his search. Monty will reject him doing this if he ever figures it out but maybe if he can get hired and tell Monty after the other boy will just accept it? He walks up and down the boulevard in both directions looking for ‘help wanted’ signs and goes in to ask about the ones he sees but two have working hours during school, one won’t hire him because he’s too young, and the last is a deli counter worker and apparently he needs experience for that.

It isn’t too frustrating, one of the places still takes his name and number and says they’ll see about reworking their schedule to maybe be able to hire him and he can try a few more places tomorrow when Monty has practice again. He’s set to go home, disappointed but not discouraged, when he spots another sign in the window of a convenience store advertising an opening.

He pushes the door open and steps into the shop which is larger than it looked from the outside. Four aisles of food take up most of the shop with a small section for household goods filling out the last aisle, along the back wall are refrigerated cases stocked with drinks and refrigerated products. It’s small and messy but not dirty, partially unpacked cases of goods sit in aisles giving him an idea of what kind of help is needed. Behind the counter are glass display cases with cigarettes, lighters, lottery tickets, and a lot of other little things. Also behind the same counter is a man who could be anywhere from thirty to fifty, could be any combination of races and ethnicities, and when he speaks, has an accent so nondescript, Justin doesn’t spend any more time on it besides thinking it’s pleasant to listen to but not hard to understand.

"Hallo. What do you need?"

He approaches the counter, feeling his heart beating a little faster in his chest but he puts on a smile and introduces himself, then asks about the sign.

The man looks him up and down doubtfully and then asks, "You even sixteen kid?"

He blushes and shakes his head.

"Looking for pocket change?"

"Gotta have money to take my girl out." He says it with a grin and the man chuckles. Justin decides he likes the sound; it’s like the accent, easy to listen to.

"Of course kid, listen I can’t really hire you if you aren’t sixteen but leave your name and number and if I need someone for day work I’ll give you a call."

Not exactly what he was looking for but better than any response yet so he takes the pen and paper offered and writes it down while they talk.

The man pauses mid sentence as he picks the piece of paper and looks it over. "You’re a Foley?"

Justin feels a blush creeping up but he ignores it as he nods. 

"Where’d you get that bruise?" He can’t figure out the man’s inflection, it reminds him of Monty’s blank tone that he uses when repressing anger or hiding something but with Monty he can usually figure out what’s being covered up by context. He’s just met this man and has no idea what’s running though his head and has no idea how to respond.

"In a fight." Probably not the best thing to say during what might be an interview but it’s the lie he’s been using all day so he defaults to it, mentally kicking himself after it comes out. 

"You don’t look the fighting type."

He forces a grin and replies, "I didn’t say I won."

A heavy sigh and then the man rubs his face with his hand and finally says, "Listen kid, I can’t technically hire you until you’re sixteen but if you say, tell me you’re a week or so out and we agree to an under the table payment method, like cash, I guess I could take you on."

He babbles out the lie the man wants to hear, shocked. In no world did he think he’d be successful his first attempt at it and the man laughs, another happy sound he finds himself liking. "C’mon kid, I gotta get you a hat from the back, pick your jaw up off the floor and we’ll talk turkey when I get back."

The food reference makes his stomach rumble but he ignores it, watching the man disappear into the back of the store, returning with a red baseball cap, a gold ‘S’ on the brim. He’s then taken around the small store and shown where things are, the man, Nash, makes up his schedule and is shockingly accommodating in doing so. He works the days he doesn’t have practice and Saturdays mornings, he’s told teenagers shouldn’t be expected to work Saturday nights and that just makes him like the man more. The store is closed Sundays. When he’s here, he runs the register and stocks shelves. Nash shows him how to work it and it’s easy enough. They go over a few more rules but it basically boils down to don’t be an idiot or an ass and don’t go up the stairs in the back by the bathroom because it’s Nash’s apartment and office. 

It’s all pretty easy and when the man leaves to make a copy of his schedule, he takes the opportunity to text Monty and lets him know what’s going on and then he starts about five minutes later.

Nash mentions that it’s pretty quiet this time of day and only one person comes in up until Monty arrives after practice. The older boy isn’t happy but Justin doesn’t give him a chance to object before he lists all the positives to him working there. It’s mostly money...well no exclusively money but also it’s somewhere they can hang out that’s away from home and has consistent heating, cooling, and plumbing and he’s reluctant but eventually Monty agrees to it as long as it doesn’t interfere with school work or basketball.

Nash hears most of their conversation so he has to be careful about how much he says but the man waits until Monty goes in the back to use the bathroom before speaking for the first time since his brother arrived. 

"Was your fight with him?" He sounds suspicious and it takes him a moment to remember that Nash thinks he got beat up by someone and apparently suspects Monty. "Cause that boy is bad news."

"He’s not."

The man raises an eyebrow as he says, "He’s De-La-Cruz’s kid ain't he?"

"So? He’s not his dad." No matter how many times he goes through this it’s still frustrating each time. Dad is an ass, he’s probably worse than that but thinking about it makes him angry and upset and the point is that for everything Dad is, Monty isn’t. But everyone who knows the father assumes the son is the same and it’s true that they share some traits, both can go from calm to angry in seconds and usually express as much with their fists but that’s as far as it goes. Dad is a drunk who they’ve had to pick up from the bar several times, Monty works harder than anyone he knows and Dad doesn’t care about anyone but himself, meanwhile if he didn’t have Monty’s constant support, he has no idea where’d he’d be.

Nash raises his hands in surrender, the suspicion gone. "Alright kid, whatever you say."

They stay until seven, him working, Monty just there. Nash is up and down, working on stuff in his office and venturing down to see how things are getting long. When seven rolls around he comes back down and tells them to go home, that the shift is over but before they leave he offers Monty a job. Even when his brother tells the man he works construction and also plays on teams, Nash shugs and says he’s flexible. And so they both end up working for Sunrise Convenience Store. Neither really sure how but after two weeks they get their first paychecks, well it’s cash but same idea, and most of Monty’s remaining reservations go away, at least as far as he can tell. It’s not great money, but it’s money and non-taxable as Monty points out, and paid to them, no one else. They set up a plan, Monty’s part goes away for emergencies or more optimistically, for later and his goes towards outstanding bills and food, and then the rest gets put away after that with Monty’s portion...when there is any left. 

It’s easier after that, at least a little. More money does keep utilities and stuff on more and the shop is so quiet that most of their shifts are dedicated to homework so their grades get a little better from turning more things in. Less time with friends sucks though. He can’t hang out with the guys on days when he doesn’t have practice and Thursday night parties are officially dead to him and Monty but the trade off is worth it. 

He’s willing to call it a win all around and so is Monty when he quietly thanks him one night in the dark of their room, everything turned on and no eviction notices hanging over their heads. It isn’t ideal, but it’s good and that’s enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a new chapter, and on time no less! This focuses on a character I introduced in Hold Up, I mentioned he'd be coming back and here he is. To be clear, I usually don't focus heavily on OCs when I write but I had an idea for Nash and a character arc to develop both of the boys but I needed a character who no one from canon fit into and so Nash was born. He's got 3 more chapters I've written that he plays a big part in and 1 I still need to write he plays a big part in, other than that, he gets mentioned from time to time, I hope that doesn't turn anyone off too much but if it does, feel free to read around his chapters. As for his purpose, I don't want to say too much here and spoil what comes later but Monty and Justin have very few examples of decent adults in their lives and even few male roll models so I figured I'd throw them a bone with Nash.
> 
> Next update should be next Friday and I think I may post a Nora chapter and then see about a Monty one after that.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below! Also big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for all her help beta reading and you should all head on over to her page and finish reading her latest story, Kitana because it's amazing!


	21. Hotel Closing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monty doesn't think he really has a home, not one like movies and TV shows talk about, he has a tiny room in a shitty apartment, the Jeep, the pool house and Bryce's, sometimes a guest room at Bryce's, the Hobo Hotel, and very rarely and only in extreme circumstances, the floor of Scott's room. None of them are really home, just different places he and Justin can sleep for the night and of them, the squat in an abandoned building is the one closest to a 'home'...or it used to be.

Justin is a little idiot. That’s the mantra Monty keeps reciting in his head as he throws the Jeep in park and turns it off. Only an idiot could actually forget something at the hotel but somehow he left his wallet there, not that there’s much money in it but still. He’s about to start his walk up the hill to the little shack but he becomes acutely aware of sirens and lights. From the gas station parking lot he’s in, the top of the hill is obscured by dry brush but the sound is coming from up there.

Dread grows in his stomach as he climbs the hill and it settles in like concrete when he reaches the top. The Hobo Hotel sits behind a line of caution tape with two walls and the roof already collapsed, a backhoe busy caving in the other half. A police cruiser with its lights on is joined by a bulldozer, and a dumpster, containing the meager possessions they had stored there, the blankets, mattresses, and probably Justin’s wallet. He could cry, almost, from sheer frustration. The hotel has never been perfect but at the end of the day, it’s almost always been safer than the apartment if nothing else. And now it’s gone, torn away from them, him and Justin and Scott, and now with one less place to escape to, life is going to be that much harder.

"Hey kid, you can’t be here."

The door to the cruiser opens and a cop comes out, as if seeing this horrible sight wasn’t bad enough.

He clears his throat and tries his best to talk like how Justin would and hope that three years of witnessing the boy smooth talk his way out of messes has taught him something. "I’m sorry officer, I was at the gas station below and got curious. What’s going on?"

He knows people don’t like him, but somehow it works. The officer, probably bored having to babysit this, leans against the cruiser and says, "We got tipped off by an anonymous citizen that this shack was being used by wanderers and the homeless for drugs and posed a threat to public safety so the city sent a demo crew is out here to tear it down and me for security."

"Really? That sounds exciting. Was anyone here when you came?" Clearly very exciting given how bored the man is but he takes the bait and volunteers more info.

"Not really, and no one, all we found was what you see in the dumpster. It's just some sleeping stuff, cooking stuff and Christmas ornaments; this place doesn’t even look like a drug den. Pretty boring all in all."

He bitterly thinks it doesn’t look like a drug den cause it isn’t. Scott sometimes smokes some weed out here...maybe pretty often but they don’t even drink, it’s mostly for sleeping. At least it doesn’t sound like they found Justin’s wallet and could connect him to the place, of all the days to lose it-. "Sounds like it should be much more interesting than it is."

"Tell me about it. You should probably get going though, this is technically a construction site."

He doesn’t roll his eyes even though he wants to. It’s not like the officer is wearing safety equipment either, not even a hard hat but he’s willing to end this conversation without the man hating him. "I guess so, hope your next assignment is more interesting."

"Thanks kid, me too."

He retreats down the hill, livid. He knew he pissed Bryce off and he knew revenge was coming, but he never expected this. He rips the phone out of his pocket and considers taking a sledge hammer to it in lieu of being able to do so to Bryce’s stupid face. The ‘find my phone’ app. He can’t believe the other boy actually used it to find the hotel. It pisses him off, but he probably should have seen it coming given what a dick the other boy is. He slams the door of the Jeep as he gets in and pulls away and makes for Scott’s house, Justin will be at practice for another forty minutes and he’s picking him up anyway but Scott needs to know and the thought of using the fucking phone might actually make him destroy it without thinking of the bigger picture and how useful it is.

He rings the bell when he gets there and Mrs. Reed answers the door. She looks as she usually does, bored and uninterested but she doesn't make a problem when he asks to see Scott, besides wrinkling her nose, and lets him in.

He pushes the other boy’s door open to the protest of ‘Mom I told you to knock’ and is just happy not to watch him watching porn. Scott sounded freaked out when the door opened, he recovers pretty quick though.

"Hey Monty. What are you doing here?"

Closing the door behind him, he replies, "Bryce found out about the hotel and got it demoed."

If it wasn’t for the news he just delivered, the look on Scott’s face might actually be pretty funny, his mouth hangs open, eyes go wide and he stammers several attempts to talk before Monty takes pity on him and offers more information.

"I think he used the find my phone app for his old phone that he gave to me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Honestly he has no proof besides the app randomly activating last night while he was at the hotel but he’s willing to count that as enough.

Scott looks annoyed and disgusted before asking "Why?"

"I pissed him off."

"Obviously. What did you do that was so bad?"

He snorts and Scott has the decency to look chastened. "I told him he was just like his parents."

It was a little more than that, Bryce had spent all afternoon guilting Justin for neglecting him over ‘some girl’. Jess had been a touchy subject for the pair for months now and Monty had the feeling it was because Bryce felt threatened by a girl which was something he couldn’t just accept. Monty was already treading on thin ice because Bryce wanted his help getting Justin to join the football team and he wasn’t ever going to do that. Of course that was compounding the fact that Bryce needed someone else’s help convincing Justin to do something which put all of them on shaky ground to start with. 

Anyway, he had let the guilting go on because Seth and the old man have been going at each other worse than usual and the less time he and Justin spend there, the better. Unfortunately, Bryce had picked at it for hours and gotten Justin so mixed up that when he had been sent on a snack run, Monty had informed him that he was his parent’s child.

It had been a stupid thing to do, a pointless insult that had cost so much more than it was worth but seeing Bryce’s face screw up had felt damn good.

Scott is looking at him like he’s stupid which he probably is but all well.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted. What are you and the kid going to do?"

"He’s spending tonight with Zach, after that we’ll see."

"Does Zach know he’s having a house guest?"

"He’s going to."

"I mean, my floor is open but I can’t feed you and last time we tried it didn’t go too well, kid really doesn’t like listening to arguing. Other than that, Bryce might take him but you’re probably S O L, I guess you can sleep in your car if it gets really bad."

He doesn’t mention that there’s no way Bryce isn’t going to punish Justin as well, both for the whole Jess thing and the football thing and also for an to remind Monty when he acts out, he isn’t the only one who pays for it.

They say goodbye and he gets back in the Jeep and heads towards school. 

Coach Patrick doesn’t mind when he watches practice as long as he doesn’t cause any problems. Honestly the man might be one of the few adults in this school to have any amount of his respect, he could probably count them on one hand, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t wary of the man. He knows the coach made several reports on both of them and it’s that action that makes Monty almost wish he was the coach for baseball too. Regardless, being well intentioned, and he really believes the man is, doesn’t stop him from being dangerous to them.

Thankfully, he doesn’t start up any conversation today so when Zach exits the locker room, Monty can intercept him easily.

"I need you to put Justin up for tonight."

Zach sighs and says, "It’s a school night my mom-"

"Doesn’t have to know. Just for tonight Zach, he can’t spend the whole night up listening to idiots yelling, he’s got a physics test tomorrow that he needs to try getting a decent mark on."

"And that’s the only reason he needs to stay at my place?" Zach sizes him up, large, dark eyes almost as bad as Justin’s at hiding emotion, particularly where the younger boy was concerned, and after two years, probably the only person Monty thinks of as an equal in terms of keeping Justin safe, loved, and happy but still rarely gives all the details to.

"Yes."

"Alright, I think I can manage it for tonight. I’ll tell Mom I have a lot of homework and hide out in my room or something. Do you-"

Justin comes out of the locker room and joins them but immediately catches on that something’s up.

Before he can get peppered with questions he announces, "You’re staying with Zach tonight."

Justin opens his mouth to most likely protest but Monty cuts him off before he can even start. "You need to pass that test tomorrow so you’re going to spend the night with Zach, study your ass off and use those notes Sheri gave you and get a good night's sleep so tomorrow you can pass with flying colors, or get at least a B."

Justin looks a little hurt and as much as Monty doesn’t like being the one to put that expression on his face, he isn’t changing his mind. Still he reaches out to ruffle Justin’s hair, wet from a shower and says, "C’mon, you’ll make Zach feel bad if you keep acting like a night with him is so bad."

"Yea I’m starting to feel like a second or third choice. What did I do to deserve this?"

Zach stepping in is what he needs to turn the tide and Justin sighs heavily but doesn’t fight anymore only moves forward to hug him like they’ll never see each other again, that special hug that conveys all the comfort, love, and kindness he associates with Justin. He wraps his arms around the younger boy for a moment and squeezes him before saying. "I’ll see you tomorrow."

He feels Justin sigh against his chest before letting go. "Promise?"

"Yea, it’s a school day. I’ll find you at your locker or something before class."

Justin doesn’t look like he totally believes him but he doesn’t fight anymore and they leave the gym together splitting up at the parking lot, Justin and Zach going to the Audi, and him to the Jeep. 

When he enters the apartment, he finds it mildly calmed down from when they left last night to head to the hobo hotel. Amber was high out of her mind and going between moods with a dizzying speed, Seth being disgusting, and the old man a slowly simmering stew of anger ready to explode. He doesn’t see Amber or Seth now but the old man is on the couch, clutching a beer can so hard, he’s destroyed it.

Monty knows what he needs to do, which is get the man to blow, but he needs to get the anger directed at Seth who is one of the lowest forms of life he’s ever met and that’s impressive given his father, boyfriends past, Amber, Bryce, and himself. Seth’s strong enough to bully a pair of teenage boys, but too cowardly to commit if one of them isn’t hurting from the old bastard, and gross. He’s also too cowardly to stay if he’s hurt from a fight with the old man, preferring to lick his wounds in private somewhere else.

Unfortunately, for all the things Seth is, stupid isn’t one of them and that means Monty’s going to have to be careful about this and not make his move too fast. Seth thankfully is in the bedroom with Amber which might help his case a little and he goes to the kitchen but there isn’t any beer in the fridge. Good, that actually helps him too. He then moves to the TV which is playing some old show he can’t be bothered to recognize, and reaches behind it. The old man starts getting annoyed until he pulls out a mostly full bottle of whiskey which he shows off.

"Want some?"

"Where did that come from?" The words are slightly slurred so he must have had something earlier which is also good, Monty isn’t sure he can find enough of Seth’s secret bottles to get the man from sober to drunk but he can absolutely if tipsey is the starting point.

"Seth."

Arguably the only things the old bastard likes more than alcohol are violence and free alcohol and with any luck, tonight he’ll get both. As Monty takes a gulp and returns to the couch, passing the bottle to the old man who sniffs it, and then downs nearly a quarter in a few large gulps.

He doesn’t pass the bottle back but that’s fine, liquid courage might have been nice but a clear head will probably serve him better.

They remain like that, silence between them with the TV being turned up higher and higher to try blocking out the sounds of sex from the bedroom. He keeps up steadily feeding the old bastard booze of whatever he can find, after the whiskey is done he pulls out a flask of gin, and then manages to dig up one with scotch.

By the time he’s onto another whiskey the old man is drunk, angry, and ready to explode.

"Where does he get this all from. Bastard hasn’t worked a day in his fucking life."

Monty shrugs, this is the opening he’s been waiting for, now to hope this all goes right. "I’m sure he steals the money for it."

The old man’s head perks up. "Steals?"

Monty pops the cap on a bottle of cheap champagne and says, "He doesn’t work but he needs money."

The bastard snatches the bottles as soon as Monty brings it in arm’s reach and down half of it in several long gulps coming up for air. "You think he’s stealing my money?"

Monty hesitates for a second and then says, "Well it’s either yours or Amber’s and she doesn't make as much as you."

He lets that thought sit and ferment for a little bit, counting on the same rage Amber has used against him and Justin working in their favor for once. Of course, that doesn’t mean he neglects to keep searching out booze and feeding the fire with the hope that it pays off. 

The thing is, all three adults steal from each other all the time, Seth’s drug money, and the money from Amber and the old man’s jobs are fair game to whoever can find them. He keeps the money he has in the Jeep if he can’t put it in the bank right away and he and Justin both help themselves to the money for bills and food when they think they can get away with it. It’s probably dishonest and not the right thing to do, but survival is important so food, rent, and utilities need to be paid.

He’s pulled from his thoughts when the bastard stands, sways a little and then storms into the bedroom. He waits to hear the screaming and the sound of fist on flesh before he heads to his own room, out the window and up the fire escape. He isn’t stupid enough to wait around to watch Seth leave and give the bastard the tip that he orchestrated all this, the man would only come back with a vengeance. 

He doesn’t return inside until nearly one in the morning and slips into bed. Justin texted him good night around eleven, a silly, useless, love filled gesture that warms his heart on the rare night they spend apart and offers him another reminder of why he goes through all this nonsense, so he knows the other boy is asleep. He sort of wishes Justin was here but he’d rather the other boy be somewhere safe.

The plan is almost a total success, almost because at four thirty, he finds himself being ripped out of bed by his ankles; the pain wakes him up pretty quickly. Apparently the old bastard is angry he suspected Seth was stealing money but didn’t say anything sooner, at least that’s what he gets over the blood pounding in his ears.

As far as beatings go it’s pretty lackluster, Seth will always lose to the bastard but he’ll also usually get a few good hits in that later, when the initial cloud of anger and booze clears, slows the old man down. Being thrown up against a wall and punched a few times isn’t great but nothing’s broken and the bastard passes out mid punch so all in all, not nearly as bad as it could be. He spends the rest of the night in the Jeep just in case the old man gets up again.

The whole plan seemed to go well, too well even, so naturally the first person he runs into the next day is Bryce in the bathroom as he washes his face.

"Looking good Monty, your old man give you that shiner?"

He bites his tongue until insults turn into a polite greeting but ignores the question.

Bryce leans against the wall by the sink, watching his face. "So," he begins conversationally and Monty knows it’s a trap as soon as he does, "when’s Justin finally going to come to the gym with us? We need a little more muscle on him if he’s going to play football with us in the fall."

He gingerly dries the bruise around his eye as he replies, "Probably never, he isn’t going to play football so there’s no need."

Bryce jaw clenches for a second before he says in the same, friendly tone, "C’mon Monty, I’m pretty sure he will, I mean we’ll need a new wide receiver and he’s a little short for it but he can easily outrun most people, probably even in gear."

"Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. He isn’t going to be playing football, Coach Patrick already has him set to start early training for basketball that would interfere with the season."

He thinks Bryce’s eye might twitch a little as he replies, "I don’t think you’re getting it Monty, the team needs Justin next year."

If he felt like being really annoying he could say the whole no ‘I’ in team thing, but he's still smarting from the loss of the hotel so he settles on, "Shame, but I’m sure the team will make do without him."

A year ago, the look he got would have made him fight hard not to flinch, even now he’s clamping down hard on every urge in him that indicates he knows exactly what that look means.

"Guess we will. Oh hey, I forgot to mention that my dad’s been on my case about having people over lately so I won’t be able to host you and Justy for a bit. Hope that’s okay, I could probably risk it but he seemed pretty serious and he’s been letting me host more parties and I don’t want to risk that."

"Of course man, gotta do what you gotta do." He says it stiffly, bordering on robotic and Bryce takes it exactly how he wanted him to, with a smirk of glee.

It’s bullshit of course. Barry hates him and Justin and it’s no secret to anyone with a brain but he also is around to little to try limiting Bryce’s house guests and more to the point, is aware that his days as an authority figure in Bryce’s life are numbered and if Bryce listens to him, it tends to be a plot of some kind.

Bryce continues, "Oh hey, did you hear about the demo over by you?"

"Demo?"

"Yea, apparently some shack behind a gas station that unsavory people were using, it’s near where you live so I thought you might have heard."

And there it is, the gloating that he’s taken away two options in one night. Punching him would feel really, really good right now but he can’t, it wouldn’t be worth it for a lot of reasons but especially to not upset Justin. He sometimes wishes the younger boy would wake up and see Bryce for what he is but there if he did he might do the same for Monty too. Besides, if he did, some part of the Justin that’s the center of his world would die, the part of him that sees the good in anyone he cares about no matter who they are. He supposes between Amber, Byce, and now Monty himself, Justin probably has a lot of practice in dealing with imperfections.

He forces himself to reply, tamping down anger and a little smugness that he finally outplayed Bryce, at least a little. He knew the other boy would pull something like this, but he took steps to mitigate the damage.

"It’s news to me."

Bryce claps him on his back which thankfully isn’t bruised but that wouldn't have stopped Bryce if it was. "Well now you’re educated. I gotta go brother, need to take care of stuff before class. See you later."

He gives a good bye of his own and watches as the other boy leaves. Part of him looks forward to the day when Bryce Walker is no longer a problem he needs to deal with while a smaller part of him, cynical but also realistic, whispers that Justin will always love Bryce and therefore Bryce will always be in their lives in some capacity.

Predictably, when he ends up getting to Justin’s locker the younger boy is unhappy about his bruised face but rather than let him freak out he tells him about the hotel, just leaving out the part about Bryce’s involvement, but they’re at school and can’t really talk too much about it. 

It isn’t until late that night, when Justin’s curled against him, obviously feeling guilty about not being here last night, that they really contemplate what it means for them. 

"We’ll be sleeping in the Jeep more."

He grunts, it’s about as dangerous as sleeping at home just in a different way, one ends in pain, the other in a potential call to the police and potential involvement of child services. 

"Or at Bryce’s. Maybe Scott and Zach’s too."

Another grunt.

"I guess the next time Mom dumps Seth things will get better for a while too, and maybe this time will be for good."

He doubts that; Seth and Amber have gotten together and broken up several times but no matter how they all feel about each other, Seth does something the rest of her boyfriends don’t and that’s make money, a lot of it. Monty is willing to admit that when he’s around the chances of food being in the apartment is higher, and the likelihood of things being shut off is reduced. He still hasn’t made up his mind if the trade off is worth it because Seth’s presence means a lot of anger lying around ready to explode and more time away from the apartment avoiding it so in general he’s willing to say the pros and cons cancel each other out.

"I’m sorry."

When Justin murmurs it so quietly he almost doesn’t hear. 

"Don’t be." He sort of knew it was coming but he still wishes Justin wouldn't feel bad everytime stuff like this happens.

"But you got hurt, and you sent me away so I didn’t but I could have helped you."

His hand moves up to brush through Justin’s silky hair. "You could have helped me, but you had that test today and needed to be ready for it. How’d you do?"

Justin is totally rolling his eyes, and he knows it even though he can’t see his brother’s face. "Fine. Well mostly. Ms. Rodriguez knew how much time I put into studying so she let me come back during my lunch to see the grade. I got a C+ but she said I did really well and as long as I kept on turning in my homework and raising my hand in class I was looking at a B- or B for the marking period."

He can hear the hesitation in Justin’s voice. Monty told him to get a B and he didn’t and he isn’t sure what he did is good enough. It pains him to think at so much time with Bryce has led him to expect the same in all his relationships.

"Alright. Do you think the notes from Sheri helped?"

"I think so. I ended up calling her last night to explain a few things to me and that helped more than just reading the notes but with them I was able to understand a little more on my own."

"Good. I’m proud of you."

He doesn’t need to see Justin’s face to know it lights up, he can feel it in the quiver that makes its way down his body when all the happy energy can’t come out in a smile alone.

They lapse into silence and he reminds himself that the plan will work. It has to and it will but it’s also why Justin _can’t_ join the football team. They’re too connected to the clubhouse and steroids and a whole huge mess of things that Justin needs to be clean from for this plan to have the possible chance to work. 

It makes him angry, thinking that Bryce wants Justin on the team so bad to pull him back, to get him involved in all the really sordid things Bryce stands for as a way to ensure his loyalty. Start with the roids, work his way up to rape and by the end, Justin would be in as deep as any of them and have no way of getting out. He wouldn’t be able to pass drug tests for the college teams without Bryce’s help and that would be the final nail in the coffin of them escaping this place and getting out from under Bryce’s shadow.

Quietly he whispers to Justin, even though he thinks the other boy is already asleep, "Two and a half years Jus, then we can see what life is like on the other side of all this."

He falls asleep imagining a world where he and Justin are free from this miserable city and all the shitty people and things in it. It’s nice, to dream about something happy for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...I hope this wasn't too upsetting to read. Bryce is the lowest of the low and I wanted a chapter where that was abundantly clear, even more so than his usual appearances, and closing the brother's and Scott's, safe haven seemed like a good way to communicate that, especially over something really petty. Of course I wrote this chapter a long time ago and just got around now to posting it now. That may help account for slight differences in relationships with everyone Monty interacts with in this chapter and it does have a ton including an appearance from Zach, as well as Scott and later Monty Snr and Bryce. As far as timeline is concerned, in my head this is set shortly (a month or 2 maybe) before Bryce's accident because I didn't want my boys without their hide away for too long.
> 
> Next chapter should be in a week, and I'm thinking a Nora chapter for this one.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments. Also big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for all her help beta reading. You should totally head on over to her page and check out her latest stories if you haven't already!


	22. Intruder Alert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora wakes up to a fight downstairs, she grabs a weapon and prepares to find an intruder...instead she gets something much less impressive.

Waking up to yelling wasn’t a pleasant thing, actually for a moment it was rather frightening, she thought maybe there was an intruder and certainly the voices were angry enough for that to be a possibility. Pulling on her bathrobe she grabs the first heavy object that comes to her hand, a very thick copy of Shakespeare she had been reading before bed. It might be worth quite a bit but not as much as her life, or Bryce’s who she suspects is doing some of the yelling. Creeping down the stairs she enters the living room and finds it dark but with several figures yelling. 

Flicking on the lightswitch she illuminates the group, now annoyed by what she finds. Barry, probably piss drunk and just coming home now, Bryce, face flushed with anger, Justin Foley, looking terrified, pressed against the couch, and Montgomery de la Cruz, standing over him protectively as Barry holds up a curled fist ready to hit.

As the lights flood the room they all turn to look at her, Barry still angry, Monty with all the mistrust he normally levels at her, Bryce with a look that’s difficult to pin down because it starts angry but shifts to something between relief and annoyance. Justin looks at her like she might be some kind of angel.

"It’s three thirty, what are you doing."

Normally she’d try to be more civil with all involved parties but she figures being woken up in the middle of the night is a good enough reason for being cranky and not wanting to sort out this nonsense but also being the only one who can.

Monty continues glaring at her, Bryce says nothing, Justin opens his mouth but Barry slurs out, "What are _they_ doing here!"

She assumes he means the brothers, step brothers, but he might as well have found a rat with how disgusted he sounds. Justin wrinkles his nose, looking offended while Monty’s whole body is still rigid, ready to fight.

She turns to Bryce. "What’s going on?"

He looks annoyed but maybe not at her. "I was coming down for a glass of water and was in the kitchen when Dad came in and started yelling."

She pinches the bridge of her nose and announces, "Bed. Everyone."

"Yer just gonna leave them here?" Barry sways dangerously but his dark look is fixed on the pair on the couch.

"Yes. Now change and go to bed."

"I’m the master of this house woman." He moves to grab Monty but the boy balls his fist and tenses, ready to strike. Apparently even drunk as he is, Barry knows better than to mess with this kid because he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone, grumbling something about calling the police.

"They aren’t trespassing. I told them they could stay, now go upstairs before you can make a bigger fool of yourself." 

It’s a bluff because Bryce hasn’t asked permission to have friends stay over in years and she didn’t even know they were here but it works and with one last dark look at the pair, he finally gives up and stumbles past her and upstairs. She may need to sleep in the den tonight, the stench of liquor was enough to make her eyes water. Bryce snickers and she levels at him. "You too, bed. It’s a school night."

The amused expression turns to a dark one but he disappears up the stairs. She watches him until he disappears around the corner before turning her head back to the pair. They’re standing up, Justin pulling his sneakers on, Monty grabbing their phones and wallets from the table.

"I don’t think cell phones and wallets are necessary for bed."

Watching them both freeze which could be comical except there are a lot of reasons it isn’t.

"We thought we should be on our way, Mrs. Walker."

"You’re going to walk home this late? I’m certain the buses aren’t still running."

Monty’s jaw is clenched so tight that she can make out the tension in it while Justin just looks unsure.

"My husband is acting like a child and he likely won’t remember any of this tomorrow, and even if he does, he’s supposed to be going to San Francisco in two days and will likely not be home much before then. I’m surprised he came back tonight."

She is. It’s the first time she’s seen him in a week, he’s been working really late on an important project. She wonders if it’s still his secretary or if he’s moved on but she doesn’t care enough to bother asking. She does feel a little bit bad using this pair to intentionally annoy the man, especially when she notices the smudge on Monty’s face. 

Concealer. It must have been applied really well because up until now she hadn’t realized it was even there and she has no doubt that tomorrow if she looks at the pillow on the couch she’ll find more of it. It feels wrong, capitalizing on their need to get away from home just to make her husband angry but she consoles herself with the fact that it’s to their benefit too. 

A look passes between them and she isn’t sure exactly what they’re thinking until Justin finally says, "If you’re sure you don’t mind, and your husband won’t mind. We don’t want to cause any problems."

"It’s not a problem and he can act like an adult. Now lie down and go to sleep."

She waits for Justin to kick off his sneakers and Monty to empty his pockets before turning out the light, reasonably confident they plan to stay and not slip out after she leaves. She doesn’t go back to her room, Barry is there and she doesn't feel like dealing with him. Instead she heads to her study and resigns herself to the couch for the night.

It only ends up lasting two hours because at five thirty she wakes up and can’t fall back to sleep. She heads down to the kitchen to get her day started but stops short in the living room. Still asleep on the couch are Monty and Justin. She takes a moment to observe them, she doesn't know why but she does anyway. They’re tucked against each other, there are other chairs in the living room but they’re sharing the couch. More so, they don’t seem to be awkward at all about it. Justin is smashed against the back, Monty on the outside, Justin’s arm around him to try to keep him from falling off, legs tangled together below. Monty seems to be shivering slightly with the AC on. She crosses the room quietly and spreads one of the throw blankets out on them before going to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee and grab a banana and then heads back upstairs. 

When she comes back down an hour later, the blanket is folded and on the back of the couch, the boys nowhere in sight, the back door unlocked. Barry ignores her when he comes down, Bryce doesn’t even seem concerned his ‘friends’ are gone. She isn’t really either though, so who is she to judge. They’re likely on their way to school or heading home to get something before that. In any case, she’s relatively certain they don’t need her meddling in their lives, they barely know each other anyway and Bryce is their only connection, a boy that Justin adores, Monty despises, and she feels shockingly ambivalent about considering he’s her son.

She doesn’t see them for a few days but she doesn’t always anyway and by the time she does, she’s long forgotten all of her prior musings about them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. I hope all of my American readers had a Happy Thanksgiving yesterday. This is another Nora chapter, I felt it was time for her to come back and here we get a look at her relationship with Barry in all of it's deteriorated...glory. He's terrible! It also works to explain Bryce a little, he acts based on what he sees at home and he isn't justified, but it makes some sense. 
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week.
> 
> Hopefully you all enjoy, let me know what you think in the comments and big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for all of her help, support, and just being an amazing friend, I'm thankful for her as my beta reader and all of you as my readers!


	23. Monty's meditations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collections of ideas I had and wrote that alone don't make a chapter but together make what I hope is a fun read. 'Snow' is the second chapter for this fic I ever wrote, 'Mornings' was a lazy day dream before I nodded off one night and Cranky follows off perspectives.

**Snow:**

Monty groans as cold air gets under the covers and replaces the heat of Justin’s body. It’s too early for this shit.

-

He feels someone shaking him.

"Monty, wake up."

"Too early-go back to sleep." And keep me warm.

"It’s snowing."

"We live in Cali, it doesn’t even rain."

He hears the window open and a new burst of cold air hits him, this time pulling him out of his blissful almost asleep state. He forces his eyes open to see Justin sliding out the window and to his shock, little white flakes drift down from the sky, visible only in the street light nearby. 

"Shit."

Justin pokes his head in, cheeks flushed and eyes bright. "C’mon!"

He’s gone before Monty can even yell at him to put a coat on. It’s too early for this shit. He leaves the bed but rather than following Justin right away, he pulls his coat on and grabs Justin’s, shoves his feet in shoes and groans when he sees Justin’s sneakers laying next to his, little idiot. Picking those up too, he finally crawls out the window unto the fire escape. They don’t have heat in the apartment right now cause bills didn’t get paid so the transition from inside to outside isn’t nearly as drastic as from the bed to the room, of course it would snow when there wasn’t heat. Justin isn’t outside their window but he didn’t expect him to be waiting. Climbing up and up, he reaches the roof and finds Justin there. It’s lit up and affords them a stunning view of the flakes around them while street lights light up the city below them, making the snow visible in their glow. He has to admit it’s impressive, beautiful even, the slowly falling flakes drifting in and out of the beams of light, unhurried to their destination. 

Justin’s mesmerized, staring up at them, then down, then up and then down again and Monty can’t see his face but he can picture it, the pure awe and wonder. It makes him feel a little bad for shoving the coat and shoes at him roughly saying, "Put these on before you get sick." 

Justin gives him a rueful grin but shoves his feet in his sneakers and then pulls on the coat all while breaking his gaze as little as possible.

"It’s amazing."

Monty tilts his head up slightly, "Yea, guess it is."

He’s seen snow on TV before but somehow it fails in comparison to seeing it in real life. The flakes are delicate and intricate, each one different from the one before it and the one after yet just as stunning. They collect in his hair and Justin’s and on their coats but only for a few seconds until they melt away. It’s kind of sad actually, no matter how pretty they are, they’re gone too soon. Looking out over the city he realizes it won’t last either. They aren’t sticking to the ground below them, sort of to the cars but he has a feeling that won’t last either.

They watch for a long time despite him becoming increasingly aware of just how cold it is. Justin’s shivering but is too mesmerized to really care. Monty knows he should be responsible and bring them both inside and yet, when the night ends, it’ll be too warm for this to stay as snow and he’s gone sixteen years without ever seeing it before, he’ll probably go just as long or more before the next time.

In the end though, it doesn’t even last until dawn. It turns to rain and that sends him and Justin flying down the fire escape and back into their room, it’s sad how not much warmer inside is as opposed to outside. They’re damp by the time they get in but not too bad once they shrug off the sodden outer layers. Their sneakers are another story, too wet for school in the morning but they’ll live. Changing into dry clothes, they slip back into bed but just as he’s falling asleep he hears Justin murmur. "I wish they could have lasted just a little longer, I would have stayed up there forever watching them. Guess some things are too pretty to stay."

He’s asleep before Monty can reply and maybe that’s for the best. He pulls his chilled brother closer and wonders if Justin knows Monty was thinking the same thing but seeing him.

**Mornings**

The room is quiet. His brain slowly turns on, and he goes through a mental checklist. Justin is bundled against his side, warm and solid, and the air around is warm and smells like his brother and fabric softener. Under him is something soft and fluffy, better than the mattress at the apartment and certainly better than the hotel. Over him is something heavy and comforting, a real blanket. 

They must be at the Walker’s house and opening one eye confirms that. He reaches out with one arm to pat the bed on his other side and decides the distinct lack of Bryce means they must be in a guest room. Duh, if they were in Bryce’s room the best they’d have is a throw blanket, not a full comforter. Slowly the memories come back to him. There was a party last night, a big one. He knew most of the people, at least their name or face but there were a lot of others he didn’t recognize at all. At the end of the night Bryce let him and Justin stay and they must have stumbled up here.

He closes his eye again and enjoys the security and warmth for a moment. Everything is fine, he’s with Justin, they’re safe and it’s Saturday so there’s nothing they need to do and he can just go back to sleep for a while and he does, there’s a small part of him that’s practically giddy at the idea of sleeping in which comes dangerously close to pulling him too much into wakefulness to get back to sleep but he manages to crush it and for a few hazy moments, basks in the joy of knowing that he’s comfortable, very sleepy, and able to indulge those things before he slip back to rest.

The door slams and he’s up, first clenched and it isn’t until his brain catches up with what he’s seeing but when it does he realizes he’s in the Walker house and Bryce has just come in.

"It’s like noon, get up you two."

Easy come easy go. He sits up while Justin uncurls next to him. Sleeping a whole Saturday would probably have been a waste anyway.

**Cranky**

His fingernails dig into his palms hard enough to draw blood as he tries to shut down every shred of emotion in him. Too bad burning anger didn’t get that message. Coach Rick could choke on one of his fucking baseball bats. Actually, maybe hitting him with one would be the attitude change he needs. The massive asshole hates him, which is mutual, but he could at least pretend to not play favorites or whatever the opposite of that is. Monty knows that playing dirty isn’t something the team is supposed to support but at the same time, when Coach tells him to try stealing bases or hitting people with the ball, it shouldn’t make Coach resent him. 

But it does, the man is always harder on him than anyone else on the team. Juarez, one of the seniors, informs him that Coach picks someone to hate until they graduate and the only way for him to escape is to quit the team and make the man switch to someone else. It explains why last year was easier and it’s not like unfairness is new to him, but it’s frustrating always being the one who has to run laps as punishment, get benched for not ‘following the rules’, or being threatened to be cut if he doesn’t ‘shape up’.

Today Coach must have been in a bad mood, or worse than usual because he was only five minutes late but had to run fifteen laps because ‘clearly the punishments weren’t severe enough to get through to him’. Whatever, that was fine, except that after he finally got done with them, he was still benched and with no more explanation that ‘this would teach him to take practice seriously’. Like he wanted to be late because he and Justin had to clean up after Amber so their landlord wouldn’t see all the drug shit and mess. It was so fucking infuriating that his problems weren’t enough to get him a pass but Bryce could be a few minutes late once a week with no excuse at all, and for that matter anyone else on the team could be a little late and rarely suffer any consequences.

The door opens and Justin comes in. Monty’s still trying to slow his breathing down and not put a hole their wall and it’s not like he thinks he’ll punch Justin, he doesn’t think he could ever, but he would rather be alone. Still there aren’t many places to go for them in the small apartment so he slides on his sneakers and slips out the fire escape. He climbs to the roof and dangles his legs off, looking out over the city towards uptown and continues trying to crush his anger.

Justin comes up to join him after a bit. He isn’t looking for company, he still doesn’t really want to be around people but he can’t tell Justin that, well he can but he won’t be able to tell him nicely.

"Did you hear what happened to Scott today?"

He grunts. There’s an amusement in Justin’s voice and he knows already the younger boy is getting ready to tell a story.

"He was trying to get homework done in the library at lunch, apparently he forgot Ms. Cadwell assigned something even though she always does. Anyway his lunch is my study period and I’m there, along with Zach, Luke, and Jeff. He ended up sitting with us and is trying to do it while we’re talking."

His lips twitch into what might almost be a smile, he can’t help it this this isn’t going to end well for Scott but it will be funny. 

"We were being pretty loud, Jeff was teasing Luke, something about a crush on a girl and how to talk to women and well you know how clueless Luke is, poor guy had no idea Jeff was messing with him. For a while he was pretty much taking notes, talking loudly despite being shushed several times. The advice was all pretty bad, girls like to be told they smell after a workout cause it means they lifted a lot, or that when you want to get them gifts for Valentines Day or anniversaries a bucket of KFC drumsticks is the best way to go cause all girls love meat, I think my favorite was when he told Luke the best first date spot was the gym because he looked like a kid in a candy shop."

"Of course while they’re having this conversation, Scott is like silently imploding because he just needs to get his work done and between Jeff spouting nonsense, Luke believing him and Zach and I trying really hard not to laugh, he’s basically just getting more and more angry. I honestly thought he would break his pencil from how hard he was holding it."

"And then Zach takes pity on Luke and finally clues him in on what Jeff is doing but Luke is Luke. He can’t understand the trick and thinks Zach is trying to make fun of him and then Zach and I try to undo all of the damage Jeff did and finally Scott can’t take it anymore and finally explodes. Stands up so fast his chair falls over and he’s yelling, Luke can’t figure out why he’s so angry and Jeff is laughing his ass off and finally Skye appears and threatens to throw a book at him if he doesn’t knock it off."

He chuckles, picturing the look on Scott’s face to have to suffer through an overly excited Luke and Jeff being a shit while trying to get work done and in the end being threatened by Twilight even though he had been silent previously, he ends up laughing. Justin is too. Though Monty has the feeling the other boy is pleased with himself.

"Oh, by the way," He stiffens as Justin starts, expecting bad news because even though his mood is a little better, there’s still plenty to go wrong today, the landlord’s visit for one. "Coach says as long as you’re on time tomorrow he’ll waive the detention."

A glance over at Justin reveals nothing, the other boy is the picture of innocence which means he mettled some how. He could chastise him, tell him to fight his battles and let Monty worry about his own but Justin hasn’t listened to that advice before and he isn’t going to start now. Part of him wonders how he did it this time, usually he can chalk up Justin’s apologetics for him to people liking his brother but Coach Rick doesn’t like Justin and really hates Monty himself. Kerba maybe, not much else makes sense.

"Thank you."

A grin spreads out over his face as he says, "I’m just the delivery boy."

He snorts and reaches over to ruffle the younger boy’s hair. "Sure Jus, I believe that."

The grin grows into a full fledged smile and from there they move on to talking about less important things. It’s easy in a way conversations between him and someone else never are. And the anger is still there, but now it’s buried safely under other things where it can’t get out, not right now at least. Right now he can let Justin bring his mood up and forget all of the unfairness of the day. It isn’t a perfect solution but it’s something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. Not too much going on here besides the brothers begin brothers as seem through Monty. Snow seemed appropriate to post for the first chapter of December and the rest I planned to put along with it since none of them are very long. 
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week, thinking of a Justin chapter but not sure I know which one yet, might be the next Nash chapter.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy reading, let me know what you think in the comments and big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for all of her help beta reading, you should head over to her channel for more great reading!


	24. Snapshots at Sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collection of moments at Sunrise, between them and involving Nash, also has a brief Christmas reference so I'm posting it now so it's seasonal.

Justin decides working at Sunrise is easy money but can be very boring. Not always, but some days whole shifts go buy with only fifteen to twenty customers. When Monty is around or when Nash is downstairs it isn’t too bad because he has someone to talk to but when he’s totally on his own, it can be awful. Actually when a regular comes in that can make it much better too, he’s come to know almost all of the fifty or so people who come in at least once a week, some of them daily, and talking to them for five or ten minutes can end the boredom for that time. He knows Jamar who does deliveries and comes in once a day and sometimes more for coffee saying it’s the best in town, Justin teases him it’s hot bean juice. Anne, who's a mother of three, comes once a week with her girls; Margret, Matilda, and Madeline or Maggie, Matty, and Maddie as they prefer to buy treats for them. Maggie is the oldest at ten and watching the sisters is always amusing, especially when he purposely calls them by the wrong names and is corrected in the most severe fashion a little girl can manage. Even old man Carlos can make good company if he yells loud enough.

He does get a lot of homework done which makes Monty happy and Nash usually doesn’t mind if he’s on the phone with Sheri and she’s helping him as long as they keep it to work and there isn’t a customer in. It helps that Sheri comes sometimes to hang out, or help them with homework, and spends a small fortune on snacks to share. 

Even better, about a month in, while they were clearing out products that haven’t sold by their sell by date, Nash told them to take what they wanted since it was still good but he couldn’t legally sell it. Justin would like to pretend the man just didn’t want to throw out good food but he would have to be deaf not to have heard their stomachs rumbling all shift long. In any case he and Monty have been eating better and free food really is the best food.

Thankfully today is a Saturday shift and the clock is about to hit eleven which means they’ve only got three hours left and then a party at Bryce’s tonight. The other boy isn’t happy about them always being at work and not around as much and he misses Bryce a lot too, seeing him at school isn’t the same as hanging out in the pool house or going to Rosie’s. The party tonight is supposed to be a chance to catch up and hang out so just the guys and he’s really looking forward to it.

Nash appears from upstairs. He looks faintly hungover as he reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. "I need a sandwich from Marie. Who wants to make the run?" He holds up a twenty waiting for someone to come take it.

This day just got better and he glances at Monty who waves his hand at the door, back turned both of them as he stocks a shelf. 

With a shrug, he moves forward to take the bill, getting instructions as he does, "I need grease. The more the better. And if she still has coffee left I’ll take a cup. Get yourselves whatever just try to make sure a twenty covers it, otherwise you pay for the rest." He thinks for a moment and then reaches back into his wallet and pulls out a five. "And give the old girl a good tip too."

"I’ll get my usual." Monty’s voice comes from the aisle where he’s still working. Looks like he’s going for sure but that’s fine, it’s a nice day out and a chance to see Marie is always good and he and Monty haven’t had the sandwiches in a while either.

As he pulls his coat on and heads out the door he reflects that days like today make working here one of the best decisions of his life.

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Justin’s leaning on the counter at the register trying not to fall over from laughter as Nash recounts childhood mischief. It started when he complained about his history teacher and even old as she is, he’s shocked to find out she was teaching whenever Nash was there. Apparently she hated him too and got him in a lot of trouble after he called her out for something. However many years later, Nash can make the story the funniest thing in the world even though Justin has a feeling it’s heavily embellished and at the time was less than funny.

"What happened next?"

"Well Mac, he was my best friend, never really thought much of Mrs. Burns, and the feeling was mutual of course, so he decided this was a reason to declare war on her and initiated a series of pranks for payback. Does she still keep a bottle of sanitizer on her desk that she uses after she gets anything from students?"

He nods and Nash’s grin gets bigger. "He made a point of sneezing every time he handed her something. She always looked so disgusted, probably thought his work had some kind of filth on it to begin with but seeing him sneeze on it killed her. Eventually she caught on to his game and made sure she wasn’t at her desk to collect it so he left a tack on her chair. Cost him several days of detention but he wasn’t done, cause from there he moved on to gaslighting her by getting everyone to speak increasingly quieter for almost a week. When she sent him to the principal after catching on, she got him suspended but that just gave him more free time. He pelted her car with rotten tomatoes while she was at work, and when he got back into school, hid a rotten egg in her class so it would stink. He eventually started calling her by her first name. She made sure he got a D and had to do summer school but I like to think he won the war anyway."

He can agree on that but he’s laughing too hard to verbalize that and Nash suddenly says, "Oh, don’t try doing any of this, and also don’t tell your brother about all this. I don’t need him thinking I’m giving you ideas."

He nods still laughing but manages to get out a plea for Nash to tell some more stories.

A grin breaks out on the man’s face as he launches into another one about him and Mac involving an abandoned building on Halloween and a dubiously legal haunted house that sounds way scarier than the haunted walk Liberty does every year. One story leads to another and Nash spends nearly all three hours of the very dull shift telling him stories.

He notices towards the end that Nash has a sort of distant look on his face, like even though the stories he’s telling are funny his mind is somewhere sadder and Justin comes to the realization that any time the man mentions Mac, it’s in the past and whoever this person is, features in a lot of stories but it sounds like they haven’t talked in years, most of the stories are from Nash in high school and none mention the store.

Cautiously he asks, "Do you still talk?"

"What?"

He realizes he interrupted something Nash was saying and clarifies, "With Mac. Do you two still talk?"

A tight smile and a shake of his head is all the reply Nash says and Justin realizes he should probably have left it alone but he couldn’t help himself from pressing.

"No, no we don’t anymore. He’s dead and-"

The man’s breath hitches and without thinking Justin comes out from behind the counter and hugs the man, only thinking after the fact that this probably isn't a good idea at all but Nash folds his arms around him carefully and a shudder wracks the man’s body for a moment but then he pulls back. 

His eyes moist but he shakes his head and lets out a wet laugh, "Sorry you had to see that kid. I see why the ladies like you though, you hug like it’s going out of style."

Justin feels his face heat up a little but the man still looks off, like he’s trying to force a happiness he doesn't feel. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked."

"No I’m sorry. I’m the adult here, it’s my job to worry about your problems not the other way around. You take care of yourself and your brother and I’ll take care of myself."

He frowns. Something about that statement seems untrue but he isn’t sure what. He asks Monty about it later that night and the older boy suggests it’s because Justin’s used to worrying about the adults in his life and none of them have ever told him not to. He pretends not to hear Monty’s disapproval of Mom as he wonders if that’s it. She’s always seemed to enjoy when he’s worrying about her but the comparison seems unfair, Mom and Nash are about as dissimilar as people can be and judging one by the other is equally unfair even if most of the time it feels like Nash takes better care of them than Mom or Dad do. 

But that’s wrong. He should appreciate what he has, both Mom and Dad in all of their imperfections, at least they’ve given him Monty whatever their mistakes, and Nash in his kindness towards them in spite of everything.

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Justin hangs the last of the garland in the store front window, humming along to the Christmas carols on the radio as he does. He’s glad he found the decorations in the back storage of the store and convinced Nash to let him put them up. The little tree Scott brought to the hotel accompanied by thrift store decorations had been fun to set up but well...he wants to do more. Christmas is two days away and he wants to stretch the season out as much as he can.

Monty’s further back among the aisles, getting together food and supplies. When they clock out they're headed to the hotel to spend the night with Scott to exchange presents, have dinner and probably hang out for a bit before going to sleep. He’s excited, this year he could actually get them both something unlike last year where Monty’s gift to him was getting the heat turned back on at New Years. Tucked under the passenger seat of the Jeep are a bag of candy for Monty’s sweet tooth and a car air freshener that might save Scott from getting arrested if he’s ever pulled over, that car smells like a pot farm. More would be nice but Monty’s got burgers in his bag, they’ve got a pan there and they’ve been collecting firewood for tonight over the past few weeks so it should all work out, cold as tonight is supposed to be.

Nash comes down from his office, looks over the shop and says, "Looks good you two."

He can’t help the flush of pride that comes to his face and Monty nods, back to them as he looks over the shelf of processed cakes apparently having a serious problem picking one out.

Ten minutes later, his hand is on the door, waiting while Monty pulls his coat on when Nash’s voice stops them.

"Wait a minute, come back over here."

Frowning he comes away from the door and heads to the register where Nash is counting out money into two piles, one of which he pushes towards him and the other to Monty when the other boy joins them. 

"I can’t have you two leaving without your Christmas bonus."

His heart does a little flip and he feels lightheaded as he says, "This is two hundred dollars." From the look on Monty’s face; his is the same.

"It is. Merry Christmas boys."

Next to him Monty’s stiff as he says, "This is too much."

Nash raises an eyebrow. "Too much? For my best employees, no way."

It doesn’t seem worth it to point out that they’re Nash’s only employees, obviously he’s decided to do this and nothing either of them say will change his mind.

"Thank you." His voice catches a bit as he says it.

The man laughs and replies, "Save the over the top gratitude for someone who wants it. You two stay safe and I’ll see you the twenty sixth."

They say goodbye and bag of food in hand, head out to meet Scott and start their celebration.

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"Welcome to Sunrise can I-"

"Baby?"

"Mom? What are you doing here."

She steps fully into the store and looks around before saying, "So this is where all the food and money is coming from?"

He doesn’t know what to say so he doesn’t reply. She’s looking around the store and he really wishes someone else was here right now, the look in her eye makes him nervous.

"Can I get a packet of marlboros?"

He turns to the case behind him as he says, "Thirteen dollars please."

He takes them out of the case and isn’t surprised she hasn’t moved to take any money out. 

"Baby it’s me. You wouldn’t charge me would you?"

"It’s not up to me th-"

"Give me the cigarettes."

There’s no world in which this ends well and he knows it. Her pupils are dilated and he thinks he can smell beer on her breath but she’s several feet away so he isn’t totally sure.

She reaches over the counter to grab the packet but he moves it away and tries pleading with her. "Mom stop. I can’t lose this job so I can’t give you the cigarettes for free but if you-"

"If I what? What kind of son charges his own mother for things she needs! When did you become so ungratf-"

"What kind of mother insults her son at the first sign of trouble?"

Nash appears from the back of the store and he looks angry but in a controlled way.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I own this store."

The air in the room gets chillier somehow as he watches the back and forth, wishing he could be anywhere but here and yet having no way to escape.

"Justin let’s go."

"I can’t."

"He’s a bad man Justin. He left me and he’ll turn you against me. That’s his game. He’s a mean man."

And that’s just a lot to process at once and he really can’t deal with it at the moment but he can't think of a way to get her to leave without going with her and this job is too important for him to walk away from and he doesn’t want to either.

"Your son is my employee as long as he wants and you aren’t welcomed on premise anymore."

She Ignores Nash and keeps looking at him with more intensity that he’s seen in a long time but when he doesn't meet her eye, she huffs and spins around yelling about him being ungrateful and unloving and a whole lot of other things that hurt to hear and he can’t deny. 

When she leaves Nash speaks and he kind of wishes the man wouldn’t so he could be alone but that doesn't stop the words, "I’m sorry. I probably should have let you go with her or not hired you rather than put you in this position. It was unfair of me-"

"You dated her?"

"A long time ago. You weren’t even born yet." There’s a pause and then the man tacks on, "And I used condoms."

It’s awkward to hear but saves him from asking a much more awkward question. Not that asking made any logical sense, he’s too white and Nash is too not white but he would have asked anyway.

"Is that why you hired me? Because of her?"

"When I knew her she...wasn’t very good at basic adult things. I figured any kid of hers could use the extra cash."

"And letting us take food home?"

"I’ve gone to bed hungry before."

He doesn’t say anything, not sure what to say or how he feels. It shouldn’t mean much, anything between Nash and Mom happened years ago but that wouldn’t stop the awkwardness at home. Mom would be angry with him for not following her out and that means she’ll be unpleasant to be around for a while.

Nash speaks up again. "I’ll be in the back if you need me and if you decide this isn’t worth it, leave your hat on the counter before you go and I’ll mail your last paycheck to you."

And then he’s alone, with yet another thought to deal with. He could quit. Nash told him as much, leave his hat on the counter and walk away at seven and never return. It might appease Mom, but not likely. If he was going to make her happy, he needed to do it then, even now it’s probably too late though he’s sure she isn’t more than two or three blocks from here and he could easily catch up with her. 

He shakes his head. This job has given them so much; food in their bellies, money in the bank for when they need it, they’ve kept rent and utilities from going too far past due and Dan has stopped stalking them in the halls for overdue bills. Giving it up sounds like a terrible idea with worse consequences.

And yet despite it taking less than three minutes to come to that decision, it takes him the rest of the shift to convince himself he’ll really go through with it. As much as the logic tells him that he made the right decision, it still seems hard to go through with it knowing Mom will be upset for days, maybe a week after and a little voice keeps whispering that he could change that if he quits. It isn’t true, he knows it isn’t, and has been in situations sort of like this and has experienced that it isn’t, but some part of him still wants so desperately for it to be that he can picture himself taking off the hat at the end of the shift and leaving it on the counter and everything being fine.

Then there’s Nash too. The man-well he didn’t lie and in fact, he didn’t do anything wrong. He’s only exclusively helped them and any past connection he has with Mom has no bearing on what he’s done to help them so really it should be a non-issue and that pill gets swallowed easier if for no other reason than he likes Nash.

When closing comes he leaves as he normally would, slipping his hat into his backpack and texting Monty to get his opinion on what they should do. Going home is an option but it wouldn’t make for a pleasant night. It might be a better long term play though because Mom might get all her anger out sooner than if they spend a few nights away from home and then go back and she’s still angry. He could use a tylenol. There’s no right answer and Monty knows too. He really just wants the other boy to tell him what to do and deal with whatever consequences that choice brings but that isn’t fair. Mom is his parent, he can’t make Monty make a decision all on his own, especially not when the older boy will blame himself when it goes wrong.

He heads a few buildings down to wait for his brother to come and pick him up. They’ll make the decision together, until then he’s going to try to empty his head and maybe exist for a few minutes in a happy place in his own mind.

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"We listened to rock yesterday."

"We listened to punk on the ride here."

"So? That was less than fifteen minutes."

"But we always listen to what you want in your car, so I get to pick here."

"Fifteen minutes of my stuff means you get to pick the station for three hours?"

"Umm yep."

Before their argument can continue or the station be changed, the speakers start playing classical music...at least it sounds cultured and fancy like that and Nash’s voice floats over to them. "If you can’t play nice and decide among yourselves civilly, I’ll pick."

They look at each other embarrassed as something they should probably know the name of plays in the background and never get caught fighting about the radio after that, by Nash at least.

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Nash is stocking one of the freezers when Monty asks the question that’s been bothering him since they started. "Why did you hire us?"

The man looks at him in the reflection and replies easily, "I had a help wanted sign in the window and you two were looking for a job."

"That’s why you hired, not why you picked us. And I didn’t ask for a job, Justin did. You asked me if I wanted to work here."

"Really? I remember it differently."

"Cut the shit."

"You’re a stubborn kid Monty."

He decides not to reply and waits, earning a tired sigh from the man who finally closes the freezer and turns to face him. "Did you know we met when you were ten? I assume not, it was a really short meeting and we didn’t talk but your dad did concrete for the front when I bought this place. He was...well I've been called a lot of things but the N word by a Hispanic, that was first then and remains the only time it happened to this day. He was horrible, but bland. I've seen evil before and it doesn't surprise me. But he did have one surprise for me, a son who he brought to work with him a few days. I confess now that I kept an eye on you, wanted to see what kind of kid he raised and I was disappointed when some of the other workers had their kids on site and the boy proved himself a bully. Pushed kids, called them names, overall I was unimpressed."

"So why change your mind?"

"You changed. The day I hired your brother he had a nice mark on his cheek and when I asked him if you did it, he got super defensive. To this day I think it's the only time I've seen him frustrated, he was so willing to defend you I think he would have left if I accused you of anything else. That's some loyalty right there, foolhardy but damn if it isn't powerful."

He's a little red but tries to pretend he isn't as he presses, "That doesn't explain why you hired me, tried so hard to get me."

Nash gets a distant look in his eyes and Monty's never seen him wear this expression before but finally he answers in a soft voice, "My mom died when we were young and my dad worked three jobs to try to support his two kids and his sister’s four after she got sent to prison. We never had enough and going to bed hungry was something that happened more nights a week than it didn’t and I didn’t get my own bed until I moved out and bought it myself. Because of all the jobs he worked my dad didn’t have much time for us and it’s not like I didn’t know that he did all of this so we could be as comfortable as possible but that didn’t stop the loneliness."

He doesn’t say anything, not exactly sure where Nash is going but uncomfortable with how familiar this sounds and curious as to where he’s going because the man isn’t done yet.

"Luckily I had a friend, Mac, and we were pretty much always together even though Mac was the kind of kid that parents didn’t want their kids hanging out with and school administration shook their heads at saying he was going nowhere. His dad was a drunk who once got into a fight with a ref at our baseball game and then threw up on him while his mom was a weak woman who never did much of anything and made breathing seem like a massive task. And their reputations became his. People whispered to each other when he went anywhere and always commented on how his parents were. We both tried to get hired at a local general store but they wouldn’t take him because of his last name and because his dad owed them so much money, when we started talking to counselors about college, he was never called and when he asked why the woman said that college wasn’t for everyone, our coach was always ready to cut him first from the team because he couldn’t play on the same level as us sometimes. He came to school drunk, got into fights, had probably more on his record than anyone in the school going back several years. My dad was always afraid that we were so close and never stopped warning me about him but it didn’t matter he was my best friend."

"What does this have to do with us?" His mouth is dry. The similarities in a lot of things are way too close for comfort and honestly, without Justin, he might be all of those things. The only reason he bothers to keep his grades above what he needs to keep playing is because he won’t expect Justin to do something he can’t and the reason he doesn’t immediately punch people who deserve it is because he doesn’t want to give Justin the excuse to act out by using Monty’s own actions to justify it.

Nash stops himself and offers a tight smile. "Sorry, guess I got carried away with that trip down memory lane. Point is, no one ever looked beyond Mac to see all of his good points and I hated them for it even though they had pretty good reason to. I realized when I judged the De-La-Cruz kid six years ago, I was doing exactly what I swore I wouldn’t do."

His mouth is dry because against his better judgement, he likes Nash. Surface level for being a better boss than anyone has a right to expect, but deeper for seeming to care about them, more than a boss usually would. He feeds them, gives them advice, is quick with kind words or corrections...honestly he’s been dreading asking this question. He tried not to, afraid of what he might find, he feared pity, at best he hoped for something stupid or exploitative like he could underpay them since they aren’t supposed to be working.. This though-this sounds like empathy, or at least a recognition of something wrong with the world that he doesn't think he’s ever heard from another person besides himself, Justin, and Scotty.

His mouth is dry as he says quietly, "I’ll make you proud."

A warm laugh that feels like honey drizzled over something and the man says, "You already have. Now get back to the register, I think someone came in."

He does, feeling something heavy settle over him. Foreign, too. It’s only later that he realises it’s the pressure of having someone he actually wants to impress, who’s expectations he wants to live up to and exceed. He isn’t sure he likes it, but he isn’t sure he hates it either.

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It’s a Monday, and almost time for him and Monty to close up and leave when a guy comes in carrying two pizzas and says, "Delivery for Sunrise Convenience?"

"We didn’t order anything."

The man sets them down and replies lazily, "They’re already paid for anyway."

Nash appears and tips the man, thanking him before turning to them and explaining, "I heard a certain basketball team is moving on to regionals and that one of their star players works here. Congrats Justin you earned it."

Gorging themselves on pizza while Nash listens to him recount the game seems like the perfect follow up to Saturday’s game, especially when the man seems more invested in hearing than disappearing up to his office to get work done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome to a new chapter! Here we have a collection of memories and moments at the brothers' place of work. I tried to break up the heavier ones with some sweet or funny ones, so it sound be structed light, heavy, light, and so on. Although Justin primarily leads this chapter, I did let Monty take over a little bit to have a conversation with Nash and get his thoughts. There were a couple things I wanted to do with this chapter, give some background on Nash, develop the relationship between the brothers and their boss, and show the practical steps Nash takes that make the brothers' lives easier. It ended up being a long chapter because some of the scenes went longer than I thought they would.
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week and I think I might give you guys a treat into the mind of Scott.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments. Also thank you as always to De_La_Cruz87 for her help beta reading for me and you should all check out her page for some more stories about characters you never knew you wanted to know more about!


	25. Scott

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott muses about life in the middle of a war zone, a text from the brothers brings them over and a conversation with Justin plans an idea of hope in him, a later conversation with Monty gives it a reason to grow.

Scott wonders if the voices down the hall will escalate to a marathon screaming match tonight, or if Mom and Dad will somehow find something more productive to do with themselves, like not talk to each other. He really wishes he had some weed right now. It would be nice if, just one time, they acknowledged that they loved each other once, and don’t now, but they don’t have to hate each other. That they can agree they grew apart and that love doesn’t always last forever and not worry about ascribing blame to each other for it. 

Then again, if they didn’t yell at each other nightly, their lives might truly be empty of any kind of passion. He wonders which is worse, to be a listless, empty creature who doesn’t feel anything, or someone exactly like that except for anger. He almost wants to say the anger is better. Despite smoking to numb everything, he likes having the option...usually, to feel. It makes him feel human. Then again Monty’s old man only expresses anger and that seems worse...but Amber is the picture of total apathy so maybe not?

His head hurts thinking about it as the noise outside continues to grow louder. They’re in the phase when they argue whose fault everything was. It’s always the same. Dad says Mom cause she was the dreamer who led them into this, Mom says Dad for being dumb enough to believe her. It gets a little more complicated sometimes, but at its heart, that’s the argument, over and over again. 

Next they’ll argue about who fell out of love first, the implication that whoever did is the one who deserves all the blame. It’s sick because neither denies that they aren’t in love anymore, and doing so would be pointless anyway because it’s obvious. Still, each claims to have the 'better reason' for it to justify why it’s their fault less than the other. Mom’s writing career never took off, Dad missed all those promotions, Mom had to give up the RV to support them during a hard time, Dad sacrificed his baseball memorabilia because it wouldn’t all fit in the new, smaller, house. Both expected their child to be a perfect mirror of themself.

And that always eventually leads them to him, but sometimes only to complete the argument because some nights by that point they aren’t even yelling anymore, the nastiness is as hollow as their relationship, the loudness as worn out as they are, barely above indoor voices. It’s as if they have to finish the ritual even if neither really want to. The downside is it makes hearing it all the more depressing, to know he doesn’t even warrant some of their limited emotional capacity. And seeing in stark black and white the results of a dead dream and an unhappy marriage. He hasn’t dated any girls, hooked up sure, but never had a girlfriend. He isn’t sure if love is real or not and he isn’t sure he wants to find out.

If there is an upside, he supposes it’s getting to miss hearing about what a fuck up he is and who he got all of it from if they're quiet enough by this point. Apparently the laziness and lack of ambition is from Mom but the stupidity is from Dad, they both accuse the other of giving him the selfishness and addiction problem, as if they both don’t usually end the night with some kind of bottom shelf booze. 

He thinks the apathy might already be starting in him cause some nights he's as tired of hearing how bad he is as they are of saying it. The thought is depressing, at least they got to love at some point, even if it died a slow death. He can remember being seven and Mom talking about a summer long trip in the RV cross country to see the sights; a family Christmas present. He can remember a long discussion about a radio so Dad could keep up with baseball and her agreeing, reluctantly but firmly, and that they would end in L.A. to see the Angels play. He remembers sitting with her at the table, a large map and travel brochures spread out, looking at different national parks and tourist landmarks and seeing her more excited than ever before, or since. He remembers staying up late watching the Angels play and his dad being excited to explain every little thing about baseball to him, enthusiasm the man can barely muster these days for anything, much less enjoying baseball.

The trip never happened, the RV was sold, as were tickets to the Angels' game when Dad was put on furlough at the end of April. It's funny that, even now, neither will ever speak about that summer. Maybe they blotted the death throes of their marriage from their minds. Lucky them if so, he remembers it well enough and wishes he didn’t.

His phone buzzes and pulls him from his thoughts.

_bad here can we come over_

Monty.

He taps out a quick reply, _loud here will justy be ok_

_well live_

_lmk when you get here_

It’s too cold for the hotel otherwise he’d be putting in his reservation tonight too. Hopefully the company will make this better and his parents will opt for the quiet, silently feuding route so Justin can at least have an easy time.

He rolls off the bed and heads over to his TV, a hand-me-down from an uncle, hooking up his old PS2 and digging up the original Desert Duty the game. It's about ten years old and basically the great grandfather of the version they play at Bryce's but it's the best he's got and the brothers will enjoy it. They’re easy to please because despite access to the Walker house, they still appreciate anything that comes their way. People like Bryce or Ramon would comment about him being a fan of retro games while Monty and Justin won’t even bat an eyelash at the terrible graphics and even worse handling.

When Monty texts that they’re almost there, he heads to the door and waits till he sees them come in the front gate to open it. He figures they’ll want to be in the house as soon as they can and takes the time from them coming in the front to getting into his room to observe the pair. He takes some satisfaction in nothing being obviously broken, bruised, or bloodied but Justin’s shivers are barely controlled in his varsity jacket and Monty in his hoodie is doing better only out of sheer force of will but a slight tremor gives him away. Both have a tiredness around them and he doubts he’ll get the story tonight or any other night but Monty was probably underselling whatever they came from as ‘bad’.

Closing the door, he says casually, “Sorry about the noise, figured if we turned the TV up loud enough we wouldn’t hear most of it.” His room will sound like a warzone but that’ll just have it matching the rest of the house. Justin of course responds enthusiastically even if there’s a hollow edge to it and there’s a shadow in Monty’s eyes that makes him think the other boy wishes he had a gun and could use it on real people. Monty gets to play first.

Several hours later, not much has changed besides the shivers having worn down and Monty looking less likely to go postal though Scott suspects as long as adults are yelling, he won’t be fully relaxed. Justin is leaning against his legs, the pair sharing the bed while Monty sits at the desk. He wonders if the decision to sit like this is because even now, Monty only wants or likes that level of physical contact with Justin, or because Justin is...sticky. It’s the only adjective that properly captures Justin’s predisposition to physical contact. He’s like glue and an octopus had a baby, quick to find a person and stick to them, his hugs last longer than most people, shoulder bumps and knee knocks, any excuse to make contact with another person is taken and stretched out. He doesn’t mind, some days it’s great cause Justin has a way of making you feel like the most important person in the world. Unfortunately, right now, his legs are starting to go numb because Justin isn’t heavy, not by a long shot, but he’s been dead weight against them for several hours.

Outside the door, Mom and Dad are still going at it, and there have been breaks in the fighting, but with the TV volume set at max, it's a little harder to hear them, more a dig at the TV than them. They've moved to him now and it's more bitter than usual, they must have seen his report card. Dad will probably freak out about him being able to stay on the team, Mom will try to pick a fight and insist he doesn’t want to be on the team, if Dad rises to the bait, they’re in for a long night, if he doesn’t they’re in for an expensive night of drinking. 

Justin nudges him and for a moment he thinks it’s his turn but as his eyes focus on the boy sitting next to him, he realizes that isn’t it at all.

“You know it isn’t true right?”

He’ll never understand how Justin of all people can maintain the optimism and encouragement that he does. Pale blue eyes watch him with a mixture of sadness and conviction, that Justin truly believes what he’s saying. 

“Maybe it is, maybe I don’t actually like baseball.”

He’s asked himself a hundred times if he’s playing the sport because he likes it, because Dad expects him to and it’s the path of least resistance, or if he simply doesn’t have a reason to quit. Monty looks at him curiously. That’s fine, he expects most of the team would, Bryce, Zach, Monty, Jeff, they all love baseball, Zach may prefer basketball and Bryce certainly seems to prefer football where he’s the star role but they love baseball anyway, he wishes he could be as certain as they are. He usually feels like a fraud trying to match their enthusiasm for the game, doubly so because he can remember not having to force it for Little League but since high school, playing the game has gotten more difficult.

Justin replies immediately, “Then you don’t like baseball, but that doesn’t change who you are. And nothing’ll change you being our friend.”

Monty nods along to the speech indicating his support and briefly he’s speechless, a warm feeling spreads through him but for a moment, he’s ever so slightly envious of the pair because they have each other. And then Justin’s shirt rides up and he feels sick for ever wanting to take them away from each other because a sickly green and yellow bruise is spread across the younger boy’s side.

He reaches over to pat Justin’s head, feeling the younger boy lean into his touch shamelessly. “You’re alright, kid.” He doesn’t wish he could take Monty and Justin from each other, he wishes he could keep them here, imperfect as it is. It has to be better than what they have and having them would make it better for him.

It’s almost three in the morning before his parents call quits and they finally turn off the TV in his room. Justin and Monty spend the night on his floor, waving off his offer of the bed and using a spare comforter for both padding beneath them and blanket above them, their feet against the baseboard heater for extra warmth. Justin’s words from earlier that night keep replaying in his head. They weren’t exactly what he was looking to hear, not the answer to his specific problem, but close enough. 

He kind of wishes he could slide off the bed and take a spot on the other side of Justin and try to pretend for the night that the three of them together forever is meant to be but he and Monty are sixteen and Justin is a year younger and forever is a long time, a lot longer than most relationships last. After high school they’ll go separate ways, like normal people do. They may never leave this shitty city like their parents, but there will come a time when they see each other in the street and say nothing, maybe not even recognize each other.

“Scotty?”

Monty’s voice cuts through the night, thick with sleep.

“Hmm?”

“He’s right. No matter what, you’re our friend.”

“You’ve gone soft on me, Cruz.”

A sleepy snort. “Remind me of that tomorrow and I’ll knock you out.”

“Sure, after a night on the floor I’ll be running circles around you.”

Another snort. “You always give me advice, let me return it. Stop thinking. We may not be together all the time, but Jus ‘n I will always remember you.”

The statement fills him with an unexpected warmth and he mumbles a ‘thank you’ but Monty’s already gone back to sleep. Not a bad idea, he should try it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter, sorry about the uncreative name but it was the best I could do on it. Anyway, in cannon we know very little about Scott: he knows where the hobo hotel is, there are some things he won't do for Bryce, and he's probably friends with Monty. My job with this chapter was to explain why he knows about the hotel and what he could possibly be running away from at home that a squat in an abandoned building would seem like a deal and hence his parents show up in all their horribleness. Luckily Monty and Justin show up too to give him a reason to make it through the night. This chapter was a hard one because I've never written Scott's POV for so long before but I enjoyed it all the same and might bring him back for another chapter.
> 
> Next chapter will be out on Thursday and is Christmas themed! I probably won't do much Christmas day so I'm posting early.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments, should I bring Scott back as a POV character if the opportunity present's itself? Also a big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for her help beta reading and you should all check out her page for more great stories!


	26. Silent Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monty and Justin spend Christmas together, not conventional but not bad either.

Monty turns the volume on his phone up a little more and wishes the music blasting through the speakers could drown out the sounds of partying outside. It’s raucous and he can smell the weed and beer in here. For once the old man and Amber are on the same page and somehow managed to organize some kind of Christmas party...or more likely they both planned parties of some kind and simply combined them, still astounding he supposes. He just wishes he had any faith that it wouldn’t end badly for Justin and him somehow.

Justin is next to him on the bed, lying on his belly and trying to read _The Great Gatsby_. He probably is not making a lot of progress given that he’s humming along to the country song playing, watching a tiktok from Zach on his phone, and tensing ever so slightly whenever a loud bag comes from outside the closed door.

It’s not like he expected the day to magically be better, since Mom died Christmas has been an excuse for the old bastard to lose himself in a bottle in even more excess than he usually does. The past few years he’s tried to forget the holiday even exists because the Christmas bonus disappears into an ocean of booze as the old bastard usually has...friends over to drink and be terrible like he did today and Monty thinks that maybe somewhere in the abyss of the man’s heart he might miss Mom a little more around this time because he’s usually more violent that usual. 

He didn’t really expect this year to be any better, he and Justin both agreed they couldn’t afford to waste money on gifts for each other so the only present Justin got was a stuffed tiger from Zach and he’s got a grand total of zero gifts. They did get to watch _Merry Christmas Charlie Brown_ last night and that was nice but a tree is beyond Amber and the old bastard and it would probably end up soaked in liquor with beer cans for ornaments. If his choice is no Christmas or something like that, he’ll take what he has now for sure.

He was hoping to get together with Scotty but he’s seeing family out of town. Zach’s family is apparently hosting a big Christmas party...no doubt his mother’s idea and probably a thinly veiled attempt at social climbing anyway. From what he saw of the tiktok Zach and his sister are bored to tears at the party and have resorted to making videos hoping to keep from ‘a slow and painful death’ at a party where he’s sure they are the only ones under thirty. 

A tap on his textbook brings him back to looking at physics diagrams as Justin comments next to him, “C’mon, if you’re making me read about shitty people on Christmas night you could at least look at your homework.

He snorts and replies, “I suppose Zach’s helping you read?”

A cheeky grin followed by, “It’s comparative studying, uber rich of the past and their useless drama verses the much more sensible drama of the modern wealthy.”

A grin tugs at the corners of his cheeks as he replies, “How are you going to sell that one to Mrs. Morales? She’s looking for essay topics already.”

“Oh you know,” Justin vaguely waves his hands, “set her up with a nice compliment, add a little smile, make sure I get her to laugh before she gets to me and she’ll eat it up.”

He rolls his eyes and ruffles the younger boy’s hair. “I doubt that, even if you are her favorite.”

A crash against the door causes Justin to stiffen and pulls them back to reality. They hold their breath for a minute but there isn’t anything else after that so it must have been some drunk trying to get to the bathroom...he really is not looking forward to cleaning up after this. A migraine is forming at the thought of the beer soggy carpet, litter on the floor, and food smashed into the floor from being walked on all night. He almost wishes he could go out and get a head start but having to clean it all up later when the apartment is empty is better than someone knowing they’re here.

Right now all of the party goers seem to be happy drunks having fun but neither the old bastard nor Amber keep good company and the noise level keeps rising. It’s only a matter of time before someone will eventually piss someone off and they’ll all turn into angry drunks or else a neighbor will call the police. The police probably won’t come but the first option is bad enough since a fight will end with shouting and screaming which might get the police involved and if they’re really unlucky, fighting may spill into their room.

He glances at Justin’s phone, willing for Bryce to have sent a message of some kind since he’s sadly their only hope of a warm place to stay tonight.

Justin tugs his sleeve. “It’s Christmas, I’m done doing homework, let’s go do something fun.”

“Like what? It isn’t exactly warm outside and we don’t have anywhere to go.”

Justin thinks for a moment and then says, “Anywhere is better than here. C’mon.”

Monty wonders if it’s a good idea, they seem forgotten in here and the apartment finally has heat again. He really doesn’t need Justin getting sick when they’re home for a week. 

A body slams against their door and there’s yelling outside. He can't make out the words, there’s too much slurring, but it’s angry, two people arguing. He doesn’t need anymore signs that it’s time to go, so he reaches for his sneakers, thinks better and pulls on a second pair of socks and then shoves his feet in his sneakers. He looks over Justin’s long sleeved shirt critically and goes to the closet to pull out one of his warmer flannels and shoves it into his brother’s hands, the younger boy responds by giving him a hat which he pulls on. Then he grabs his jacket, keys and wallet while Justin pulls the shirt on and then does the same. They throw some clothes and phone chargers in their backpacks in case Bryce gets back to them on a place to stay. The whole time, it sounds like a WWE match outside their door.

They shut off the light and slip out the window into the cold air, their breath coming out in puffs as they descend the metal stairs.

Once at ground level, he lets Justin lead and the other boy brings them over to Broadway, past shops closed for the holiday on their way downtown. As long as they keep moving it isn’t too cold but the wind goes right through their jackets. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything.”

Justin’s voice brings him back.

He snorts, “Don’t be. I didn’t get you anything.”

A chuckle, “You got the heat turned back on.”

“That doesn’t count.”

“Really? It’s all I wanted for Christmas.”

“Is it?”

Justin laughs, bright despite the darkness of the city. “Well that and a million dollars and maybe a turkey dinner.”

He laughs too and says, “Just make sure I get some benefit from that million.”

“Of course. I don’t think I’d be able to spend it without help.”

They lapse into silence again for another block or so until Justin pulls his phone out and starts playing Christmas Carols through it. The air seems a little warmer after that.

When they reach midtown, Justin leads them off to Avenue B where nicer houses are decorated with lights, trees are visible through windows, lit up white, gold, multicolored, decorated with ornaments ranging from expensive crystal balls to children’s art projects.

It’s nice, the carols play low and Justin occasionally sings along to a few while the lights make everything seem a little warmer. He wishes they belonged in one of those houses, that one of the ones they can hear laughter coming from is their destination, they’ll turn and walk up to the front door and be greeted by open arms of some family waiting for them, be rushed inside to strip off the cold outer layers and be able to put on warm clothes already waiting for them. Then they’d join this mystery family at a table for a hot dinner...or even just dessert with how late it is already. 

Justin nudges him and says, “It may not be perfect, but I’m happy we get to spend Christmas together.”

A smile tugs at the side of his mouth again and he replies, “We’re together, seems pretty perfect to me.” It’s mushy and sickeningly sweet but he means it and Justin lights up so it’s well worth it. He doesn’t need some mystery family waiting for him, he’s got all he could ever need right next to him.

They walk on for a while, looking between the houses on either side, walking in the middle of the street because no one is out driving and it offers a better view. It’s quiet besides Justin’s phone. Not unpleasantly so, but a nice change from the bustle of everyday life, peaceful almost.

Justin takes them though most of the town, at least most of the nice part of town, over the course of several hours. By two most of the lights are out because the timers they’re set to switch them off and they start the trek back home, arriving sometime around three thirty. As they climb the fire escape towards the apartment, two lights appear like candles in the window giving the shitty room a softer look through the dirty window.

When they get in it turns out to be lights from the power strip but all well. The party is over, the apartment is quiet and who knows what’s on the other side of that door but as long as neither of them need to pee, they don’t have to find out until morning and by then it might be safe enough to go out and clean up. Not a pleasant thought by far, but compared to his last Christmases before Justin, this one is easily better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! Short note, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and have fun reading it. I wanted to write something for the holiday and actually managed to do it in time, started all the back in the beginning of the month to make sure it was ready.
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments, and next chapter will probably be Tuesday cause I'm off. And Big thanks as always to De_La_Cruz87 for her help beta-reading.


	27. Separation Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A series of events beyond their control lead to Monty and Justin both at the police station facing the unimaginable, being split up and put in foster care and create a situation where they have to fight to keep what little they have.

Monty opens the passenger side door of the pickup and almost gags from the smell of alcohol. 

"The fuck are you waiting for? Get in."

Trying to steel himself he replies, "Maybe I should drive-"

"Get in the fuckin car or you’re walking!"

It’s been a long day hauling bags of cement and wheelbarrows of gravel, the sun has been beating down from overhead and sixty blocks is a long walk in the heat so with a sigh he gets in.

Drives with the old bastard are at best stressful even when sober because the cab is so small and he’s so volatile but add alcohol into the mix and the bastard is swerving back and forth and cursing at the other drivers as he does nearly eighty on the back highway where normal motorists do sixty. Walking might have been safer, heatstroke and all.

Needless to say when they hear sirens behind them, he isn't surprised. Well not by that. He is surprised the old man keeps driving, obviously with no intention of pulling over. In fact he speeds up with all the 'shitty' drivers pulling off to the side, apparently he thinks, for them.

Alarmed he says, "Pull over." Looking behind him at the cop car gaining on them.

A snort. "I ain't pulling over for no one."

"Pull over or it'll get worse." He doesn't know exactly how it works but he's heard of road spikes and police barricades and he doesn't want to experience them.

"I didn't raise you to be a fuckin' coward."

"You didn't raise me to have sense either, must have come from Mom. Pull the car over!"

Almost instantly the car moves off to the side of the shoulder, the fury coming off the man next to him might be terrifying and before he can even try to move his head is slamming against the window. Luckily he's saved from anything else by a tap on the driver side window. The old man rolls it down and snarls.

The cop asks them to get out and it takes a little coaxing but eventually the old man gets out and then he does. Unsurprisingly, the old man can't walk a straight line or know the alphabet but he does refuse the breathalyzer and he's cuffed, after almost decking one of the officers, and put in the back of the squad car.

And then they turn their attention to him, asking if he needs medical attention, apparently his head is bleeding, and then telling him to get in the squad car so they bring him back to the station for help and his statement. He groans but he's not sure he wants to walk the rest of the way home and since the old man is cuffed, it's safe enough.

The ride is mercifully short and after some first aid officer checks him out at the station, he’s all set to go home when they decide they can’t release him until an adult comes to pick him up. It’s singularly the most obnoxious thing they could do at the time but apparently, he’s concussed and they don’t trust him to go home alone. That’s fine, he was probably going to need to call Scott to pick him up since he’s not sure he wants Justin driving the Jeep without him to supervise...not yet at least, the last thing they need is him getting pulled over for not having a fully licenced driver in the car. The fact that they make it an adult is the annoying part, so he fishes his phone out to call Justin only to find the other boy is calling him.

He accepts the call and says, "What’s up?"

There's a lot of background noise and for a moment he thinks Justin's call was accidental until he hears the other boy's voice. "Monty?"

"I'm here. Something wrong?" He tries to keep his voice level but Justin sounds worried.

"Hey Monty. I'm fine but um- Mom got into a bit of trouble-"

A bunch of yelling cuts Justin off and his heart pounds in his chest waiting for the other boy to speak again. After a moment, the noise settles down and Justin's voice comes back, "She got in trouble with the police-well she got arrested. I'm-"

"She got arrested?"

"Yea-long story." Another bunch of noise cuts them off, this time voices but he can't make out what they're saying and then Justin comes back. "Anyway, I'm going to be down at the station with her for a little bit to see if maybe I can get her released but I know you probably just got back from work so don't wait up on me for dinner."

The younger boy hangs up before he can say anything and with a groan, he resigns himself to sitting in the hard, plastic chairs and waiting for Justin.

It doesn’t take long. Amber's screeching can be heard out in the parking lot and several minutes later, she comes through the front door between two cops with Justin trailing.

It takes several more minutes of confusion and screaming for Amber to get taken into the back, Justin talking with the lock up officer, a conversation between them about why each of them is at the station for them to both be caught up, and Standall appearing at some point and watching from the side for things to settle down. Unfortunately, when it does, he has an ominous feeling. Justin comes to sit with him, insisting on looking at the scratch the old man's stunt gave him, and then they're approached by a lady who looks and smells sickly sweet, clearly she never got Justin's PSA about less is more for perfume and cologne. When she speaks, it's exactly how he expects it to sound.

"Hello boys. My name is Mrs. Ruben and I thought we could go into one of the conference rooms and have a chat.”

Justin looks at him and he has to agree, something is up. She isn’t wearing a uniform and doesn't really look like she belongs in the station but she’s moving around like she does and no one is questioning her.

“Quickly boys!” Her voice is almost sing-song and it would annoy him if he weren’t too busy trying to figure out what the hell she wants. He can only think of one thing but it doesn’t make any sense. Still, he and Justin follow her into one of the rooms and take seats across from her at a long table. Apparently she was getting ready for them because there are a couple of files out and he stiffens as he catches sight of a photo of an obviously young Justin with his arm in a sling.

Damn, so she is from social services. Suddenly this conversation can’t be over soon enough.

She starts speaking again, “I want to stay first that I’m here for you boys and I know this is scary for you but we can get through this together. We have several homes that can take you-”

“Homes?” Justin’s voice is tense and a glance to his side shows his brother looks sick to his stomach.

“Well we can’t have you two living on your own and your parents might be unable to come back for a little while. Now keeping you together might be possible-”

“Might be?” He cuts in. 

She gives him an annoyed look as she says, “That’s what I said, this will really go a lot faster if you stop interrupting me. Now if we-”

“What if we bail them out?”

She blinks, unimpressed by Justin’s question as she collects herself and replies tightly, “That would be a lot of money for two high schoolers to get their hands on. Now, as I was saying-”

“But if we did then we could go home with them right?”

“Drunk driving is bad enough the first time but given this is his third the fine is very steep and possession for a fifth time with your mother’s record isn’t light charge either, I don’t think the bondsman will make it easy but if we look at homes in Oakland I’m sure-”

“We can try though, right?” Justin’s voice has done a total one eighty to be so incredibly hopeful it hurts to hear.

With an irritated sigh she replies, “If you listen to what I have to say, then yes, you can.”

And so they sit and listen to a half hour long talk about various homes and resources available to them; all the while his brain running through all the money they have, and how much he doesn't want to touch it for this, money at the apartment Scott could get his hands on and bring to them, and wondering how much he could get for the Jeep on the fly.

When she leaves, frustrated at them obviously ignoring her ‘opportunities’, they get the bond amount. He feels sick to his stomach and Justin looks just as bad. No matter how he works the math, it can’t be enough. Even if he sells the Jeep for as much as he bought it for, they aren’t anywhere near close enough.

They have to though.

The alternative is getting sent away, entering the system and never getting out, probably losing each other, definitely losing everyone else they know. He can’t let that happen. Ever. So he racks his brain for any solution.

None come and finally, knowing he can’t come up with a solution on his own, and knowing it isn’t entirely his decision to make anyway, he poses the question that’s been at the back of his brain the whole time but he hasn’t wanted to think about until now, “Who do we know with the money to bail one of them out?”

“Both of them.” The unhappiness in Justin's voice pulls him a little out of his daze as Justin continues. “If we only bail one of them out, the other-”

It's probably for the best Justin cuts himself off cause who knows who's listening in but it's true. If they pick Amber over the old man, they're in for a world of pain as revenge for leaving the bastard in the drunk tank. If they pick him over Amber, it'll be a long series of microaggressions that will make life intolerable while in the apartment. So they have to bail both out when they can’t even afford one. The alternative of course is much worse.

“Bryce could help.” Of course he would be Justin's first suggestion, it would be the second time he's bailed Amber out of jail but the other time was before they met.

He really doesn't want to use Bryce though, as weak as their position is right now, using Bryce would make it even weaker, long term at least. He has no idea what this will cost them but he knows it won’t be any kind of good. He doesn't see another way though, no one else they know could get that money together. 

A knock at the door and for a moment he's afraid the damn sugar lady is back but it's arguably even worse because Standall walks in and starts talking. “I just wanted to let you two know that umm, Dolores, Ms. Ruben, isn't going to like it if your one friend shows up, the rich kid. She's looking for an adult.”

He pauses like he's waiting for some kind of thank you and then awkwardly adds on, “Thought you might want to know.”

He turns around and walks away leaving a bitter taste in Monty's mouth. Of course. Social services wouldn't know he and Justin are connected, Amber never took the old man’s last name. The only reason for a connection to be made between them would be if someone who already knew, made it for social services, and there’s only one person who does know here besides him and Justin. Fucking Standall must have mentioned it like the idiot he is and landed them in this situation in the first place.

Moron. Now they have to sort out the problem he made. “Does your phone still have battery?”

Justin nods. 

“Call Nash.” Their only other hope is maybe Bryce getting Mrs. Walker to come down but he doesn't trust Bryce and from the few conversations they've shared, doesn't trust Bryce’s mother much more. At worst, she's just like him, at best she's witness to whatever humiliating task Bryce comes up for them.

Justin's face lights up ever so slightly at the mention of their boss and he finds the man's number and calls, turning it to speakerphone so they can hear the rings. He counts them, and as they reach seven his heart is sick thinking they might now get an answer when the phone clicks and Nash's voice filters over.

"Is something wrong Justin?"

"We need your help."

"Is Monty with you? What happened? Are you both alright?" His voice is odd, tense but still strong somehow, worried but still steady and reliable, the questions are quick but not panicked as he asks them.

"I'm right here. We- can you come down to the police station with forty thousand dollars?"

"Are you boys okay?" 

Nash repeats his question and Monty can't help but feel a little annoyed because they have more important things to deal with but Justin replies before he can say as much, "Monty has a low grade concussion and I'm fine. Can you help us?"

"I don't have that money, boys. What even happened?"

He suppresses an irritated sigh and replies, "It's a long story, what about just ten thousand?"

Justin glances at him, his face pale. It's a risk, a huge one. In fact it’s exactly what they said they couldn’t do but bailing one of them out means they won't be put in a home and Amber is cheaper. They’ll have to deal with the old man later even though this is what he gets for drinking at work, then driving, then punching a cop. 

There's a heavy sigh and then, “Yes. I can do that. I'll be there in a half hour, I need to get the money and the head uptown. Will you both be okay till I get there? Are they treating you both okay? Remember innocent until proven guilty you have your rights and-”

“We weren't arrested.”

Thankfully Justin is there because he had no idea why Nash was saying all these things but that makes sense, they never told him who the bail was for.

“Then who?” 

“Mom, we'll explain when you get here just please do it soon.”

“Alright boys. If anything else happens, call me immediately, okay?”

He can hear the background noise of Nash moving, keys being grabbed and such, he breathes a sigh of relief he didn't know he had been holding onto. "Yea, we will. See you soon."

“See you soon.” And then the line goes dead. He looks at Justin who looks as tired and worn out as he feels. His head feels a little fuzzy too; if he wasn't still waiting for something else to go wrong, a nap would sound good.

Instead he passes what might just be the most stressful half hour of his life. Terror is constant, especially because sugar lady keeps lurking outside the door and Standall passes once or twice. He nearly throws up from stress but he hasn’t eaten anything besides a few granola bars so there probably wouldn’t be much anyway though that would probably be construed as a problem. They leave the artificial cold of the conference room and walk into the front room which is a little warmer and he’s sweaty and gross in his work clothes still which makes the cold feel worse and he almost wishes he could go outside and pace but that would bring its own host of problems and he’s not really sure that’s a good idea now anyway, his head feels fuzzy and thick, like he’s trying to think through syrup.

When Nash walks in the man comes right up to them and asks again if they’re okay. Monty can see Standall over the man’s shoulder but he focuses on Nash and nods even though the motion makes him feel slightly worse. They stand up and a hand settles on his shoulder, one on Justin’s too.

“I’m so proud of you two. And I’m so sorry you had to go through this but you’re both so brave and so smart and you handled it so well.”

The words are warm, tone soft and soothing even to the pain growing in his head, and he hates himself because he feels tears sting his eyes and he doesn’t even fight as he feels the arm move around behind him and pull him in, the same happening to Justin next to him and his head rests against Nash’s shoulder while he cries. Part of him is bothered by it, but most of him is too exhausted and scared and so happy to see this man, he doesn’t care. He could have lost Justin, been sent away from Crestmont, from Sheri and Scott and Nash and Zach and even Bryce. His head is pounding too. Nash just holds them, murmurs in their ears that it’s okay and that they did the right thing and reminds them over and over how proud of them he is and Monty doesn’t ever remember a time he needed to hear that more.

When he and Justin finally wear themselves out, and it takes an embarrassingly long amount of time, Nash goes straight to the bondsman, produces the money, and pays it. The bondsman, clearly aware of Amber’s previous work, reminds him he’s unlikely to ever see the money again and Nash gives no reply at all so the man calls back to get Amber.

It’s almost horror movie-like, somehow from behind the concrete walls, there’s the sound of screaming and cursing and when the door opens for a few seconds to let Amber and the cop escorting her out, he can clearly make out the old man’s voice and he shudders slightly because him getting out of the drunk tank isn’t going to be fun.

For her part, Amber can’t even be happy she’s out and instead demands to know what Nash is doing there.

“Posting your bail, Amber. And driving you and the boys home. Let’s keep this all polite and professional and then we don’t have to see each other again. I’m parked out back.”

She opens her mouth, probably to keep screaming and her voice is way too shrill for him to deal with at the moment but Justin cuts her off, tugging on her arm lightly. “Come on Mom, I’m sure once we can get home and find something to eat, you’ll feel better.”

It amazes him that it actually works and she sulkily, but without any complaint, follows them outside. Nash leads them to an old SUV and has him ride up front to give directions but he ends up nodding off on the ride and doesn't wake up until Nash nudges his shoulder. He feels awful, the nap makes him feel more tired than refreshed and he can hear talking but can’t be bothered to really understand what’s going on. It’s Justin and Nash’s voices so he’s sure whatever they’re deciding is good enough.

They go upstairs, he thinks Justin helps him up the steps and at some point he ends up in the shower with Justin standing in the tiny bathroom. He remembers seeing Amber eating a brownie and being much more tolerable, and he remembers going to sleep several times and waking up to have Nash or Justin check on him, asking him annoying questions about his name and their names and the day and some other stuff before letting him go to sleep. The day was stressful and actually terrifying and he wonders if CPS is going to be breathing down their necks but his brain is too foggy to deal with it and falling back asleep is pretty easy, for the first time in a long time, he feels relatively secure, maybe a first since coming to this apartment. He almost wishes Nash would always be here and the old man would always be in the drunk tank. It’s a silly wish, but maybe tonight that’s okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a new chapter. Sorry, this was supposed to go up yesterday but I got busy with other things so I'm posting it now. This is technically a 2 part chapter with the second part coming Friday but it has another name. I wanted to write a chapter where the brothers faced the very real possibility of being split up and decided Standall would be a good tool in making that happen cause the guy is oblivious. Hopefully you all enjoy, my beta reader mentioned the title was appropriate since it stressed her out to read which usually isn't my intention but it felt appropriate here.
> 
> Next chapter will be Friday like I mentioned and shouldn't be late this time!
> 
> Enjoy, let me know what you think, sorry again for the late post. Also big thanks to my beta reader for all her help, go on over and check out De_La_Cruz87 for more amazing stories!


	28. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin's like is a series of highs and lows dictated by his mom, her boyfriends, his step father, Bryce, and the circumstance they can all put him in. Following their CPS scare, things should take a turn for a high because that's only fair, but instead they take a turn for Bryce and more complications.

Getting out of bed the next morning and leaving Monty is hard but he does, and finds himself in the kitchen where Nash is looking through the cupboards and fridge, things set out on the tiny counter, all of it stuff from the convenience store. The man looks up to see him and comments, “Glad you and your brother have been taking all this food, I’d hate to throw it all away. I was about to start breakfast but it looks like I need to run out and get some eggs. I’ll be back in fifteen.”

He nods, after last night he isn’t willing to argue, in fact some part of him is still exhausted despite sleeping better than he has in a long time and Nash heads out the door leaving him alone. Besides, Nash will be back and that’s good.

In the solitude that follows, he realizes how messy the apartment is and it’s slightly embarrassing that Nash stayed in the living room most of last night cause it’s the worst. With a sigh, he starts straightening up and the first order of business is taking care of the brownies that were left out. He puts a sheet of plastic wrap over them even though they’re already dried out and sets them on top of the fridge. They’re Scott’s and he’s never had the heart to tell the boy that if it weren’t for the weed in them, they’d be terrible, dry and not nearly chocolatey enough. Sheri’s, the one time she made them, were much better, moist and fudgy and could stand as decent brownies without the special ingredient. But Scott’s pack a stronger punch and can put even Mom down pretty quick. She demanded two last night ‘if that man was staying’ and in the confusion and exhaustion that followed, they got left out, but it means she probably won’t be up for a while longer.

By the time Nash comes back, the living room is an acceptable level of clean. It still needs a good vacuuming and probably more work but it’s better than it started. The man pauses to assess the room and comments, “Efficient Justin,” then gets a sly smile and adds, “No wonder Monty usually has you do the cleaning around the store.”

A grin comes to his face as he replies, “Nah, I do most of it so I don’t feel bad telling Monty to mop, I hate doing that.”

Nash laughs and moves back into the kitchen saying, “Do you know how to make omelettes?”

“Sort of.” Marisa lets him watch her cook but he’s never really tried doing it cause he doesn’t want to get in her way and anytime he’s ever tried here, he’s made a mess. “I never get the eggs to crack right, always get a piece of shell in with the eggs.” The time he made it with Dad around, the results were disastrous.

“Well you’re in luck, because I happen to know a secret technique that never fails. C’mon in.”

And so he ends up spending the morning standing next to Nash in the tiny kitchen learning the ‘sacred arts’ of denial and shifting the blame, ‘remember, if they find a piece of shell, it’s their fault even if you cracked the eggs, and if it isn’t their fault, find another convenient target, preferably someone not around to defend themselves’. The advice is more funny the practical and his first few attempts to crack eggs aren’t helped as Nash unhelpfully lists off potential blame-ees for shells ranging sensibly from Monty to outlandish Arnold Schwarzenegger that has him giggling too much to attempt it properly. After sabotaging him, Nash finally takes pity and tells him to just commit to a single tap and not to be afraid of getting egg on his hands because it’s going to happen and he thinks he might have it down by the third egg.

After that, Nash demonstrates how to chop deli ham up with a questionably safe knife and then shows him how to keep the egg in the pan from burning, when to add the cheese and ham, and how to fold it all together. Monty shuffles out from their room just as they’re finishing.

Breakfast takes the better part of the morning as they sit around long after the meal is eaten, talking about nothing in particular and part of him suspects it’s Nash’s way of being able to keep an eye on Monty and make sure the concussion is well and truly gone without seeming obvious about it.

When he gets up to leave Justin has to bite his tongue to keep from asking the man to stay longer but he can’t expect Nash to give up more of his time even if that would be great. As he’s letting Nash out the door the man stops him and says seriously, “You two get into any more trouble, you let me know okay?”

He nods, his mouth dry because Nash has already done so much for them and he’s suddenly aware of how little the man owes them. He’s their boss, and if Justin is correct, took them on partly out of pity and partly because of the connection to Mom or maybe they’re one in the same, and he’s already done so much more for them than necessary between letting them take food from the store and not minding when Sheri comes to help them or hang out during their shift. Now he’s bailed Mom out with no expectation of being paid back even though from the two conversations he’s seen between them, Mom hates Nash and Nash is annoyed by her.

With the man gone, the apartment feels much emptier and a lot less safe. They spend most of the day cleaning it, something that’s gone too long without being done, and they even turn the AC on around six thirty when the apartment hits ninety degrees according to the thermostat that he’s pretty sure always reads warmer than it really is in winter and cooler that is true is summer. Mom comes out of the room at some point and sits at the kitchen table to watch them clean for a little bit while she eats, first going for the brownies but he’s able to convince her to have some toast and peanut butter first, mostly by making it, but at least it gets him into the kitchen which also needs to get cleaned.

In all the day is pretty mundane, they don’t have work, most of their friends are busy and they end up sitting in front of the TV flicking through channels, lazily debating the merits of watching _The Shawshank Redemption_ from a third of the way through the movie versus trying to kill another half hour waiting for _The Fast and the Furious_ to start. 

Monty passes the remote to him and jokes that Shawshank better be on when he comes back from the bathroom. He replies lazily he’s not giving the remote back and Monty calls back down the hall saying that’s okay, as long as he makes the right decision. He searches the channel for the worst trash he can think of and has to make the hard decision between _Desperate HouseWives_ and _The Bachelorette_. 

The door opens, crashing against the wall and before he can do more than stand up, his head is spinning from a sudden blow and there’s screaming and he’s being hauled over the back of the couch, heavy fists thumping against his chest and sides and he’s blindly trying to fight off whoever is doing it and pain is the only thing his body seems to be processing but there’s a lot of screaming and he can make out phrases like ‘good for nothing’ and accusations of abandoning, the heavy smell of whiskey assaults his nose and leaves him just as dizzy as the punching and he lands his own punch, a sickening crack and suddenly his fist is soaked in something hot and sticky and there’s a bellow of anger and more pain, several cracking sounds followed by a different howl of anger and the body attacking him slams into him but is no longer focused on attacking him. His head and vision clear enough to see Dad, with Monty on his back, legs wrapped around the man’s waist, one arm around the man’s neck and the other fending off the fists as best as he can. A red stream gushes from Dad’s nose all down his face.

He shakily moves in to try grabbing one of the flailing fists even though his whole body protests moving and between the two of them, the man eventually drops to the ground, landing on top of Monty who leans back as soon as Dad starts crumbling, ensuring the man goes back instead of forward.

Monty squirms out from under him and lays there, Justin standing just above him, panting. Amber comes out once the noise ceases and surveys the damage and then grumbles, “You made a mess.” And then she looks at him and says, “That looks pretty bad baby.” Then wanders back into her room.

He leans heavily against the back of the couch. Breathing is excruciating and Monty appears in his field of vision looking alarmed.

“Are you okay?”

He goes to answer but the breath gets stuck in his throat because it hurts too bad to finish it.

Monty disappears long enough to grab his car keys, wallet, and their sneakers. Mom comes out, dressed, and goes out the front door. It slams closed as he finally gets his sneakers on and then they’re out in the Jeep on their way to the hospital. He’d protest that there’s too many things that can go wrong but breathing is making talking difficult so he doesn’t. Sadly, that doesn’t stop him from thinking about it. The hospital is going to want to know what happened and they can’t tell the truth but if he says assault, they’ll call the police and then CPS will probably be involved anyway and they can’t afford that happening. And speaking of affording, they can’t afford a hospital bill, not a chance.

And yet despite how dangerous the situation is for them, he sees black around the edge of his vision and despite his best efforts, he thinks he goes under.

He must, because when he wakes up, he’s in a bed in a room so white, it’s painful, he struggles to sit up but it hurts and a pair of hands move to help him while a voice says something that he can’t quite hear. Then there are several more people, strangers unlike the hands that helped him sit up, and he can’t figure out what they’re doing cause his head is still foggy. Eventually, after most of those strangers leave, the world starts making sense and he puts together he’s in a hospital, a nurse is checking him over, and Monty is to the side of him, his face an unreadable mask until the nurse finishes and leaves.

He tries to crack a smile but Monty has already moved from the chair to sit on the edge of the bed and grab his hand, and he realizes Monty’s shaking, or maybe it’s him, or maybe both of them. He thinks he's been out for a few hours and frankly he’s exhausted. Monty looks like he’s seen a ghost...probably something worse actually, he could see ghosts being afraid of Monty.

Clearing his throat he rasps out, “What’d I miss?”

“Not much, a lot of tests and medical talk. They put you in an MRI machine, three bruised ribs. They say six weeks recovery, no strenuous activity.”

Monty gives his hand a squeeze and he probably looks as crushed as he feels. Six weeks is the rest of summer, the rest of the time he can play pick up games with Zach or go for early morning runs with Monty and the rest of the time they’re not expected to be in school...if something happens to them, there’s no reason for anyone to come looking for them.

Any more conversation is interrupted by a doctor and a man in a maroon sweater vest coming in. The doctor gives Monty an apologetic look as he says, “Would you leave for us? We need to speak with our patient in private.”

Monty gives him a sideways look but he nods and the older boy stands from his seat and exits the room. The doctor comes over to stand near him while sweater vest watches Monty leaves before breaking the silence.

“We’re worried about you Justin. You came in with some serious injuries for anyone, much less a boy your age. Can you tell us how you got them?”

His voice is calming but tired as if he expects a lie. He’s not wrong either, but it does make Justin feel a tiny bit bad.

It also means he has to come up with a good lie. This man looks like he’s lost all faith in the world, or maybe in kids and the system and if Justin can’t satisfy him, he may become more dangerous than any man with chinos and a collared shirt has ever been before.

It's a lot of pressure considering his brain is still fuzzy from the medicine and it takes some careful thought before he comes up with the one thing the man might believe, what he expects to hear, just in a different form.

Adopting a sheepish look he says, “It’s kind of embarrassing but-Monty and I got into a fight over who got to use the car and well-we took it too far. It was my fault, I threw the first punch.”

The doctor looks unhappy, the social worker, disappointed. They ask him a few more questions, encourage him to tell them the truth and that they want to help him and remind him that everything is strictly between them but he sticks to his story and finally the pair leaves, Monty comes back in not long after them.

“I told them we fought and I threw the first punch.”

Monty looks surprised and then nods thoughtfully. “Good thinking. They bought it?”

“Took a bit of selling but I think so.”

“Good cause I had to lie and say I was eighteen and your legal guardian to get them to do anything and getting arrested for this would have made everything pretty pointless.”

They lapse into silence. The doctors aren’t ready to release him yet so they’re stuck. It isn’t too bad except that eventually the financial people come and give them the bill.

It’s four thousand five hundred dollars and Monty’s expression is one of total despair. It’s not nearly as much as the bail money but it’s still much more than they can afford and a glance at Monty and he can see the other boy trying to make the math work even though it never will. They can’t call Nash again either, he might get CPS involved after seeing this, they’ve always been careful about showing up at work too beat up looking, and he already spent so much money on them yesterday that to ask him to spend anymore would feel like abusing his kindness.

He thinks Monty comes to that conclusion too because the boy unhappily says, “I think we need to call Bryce.”

The same thought crossed his mind too because there doesn’t seem to be another way out of this one. Honestly he isn't too disappointed. Bryce will probably let them stay over, maybe for a few days even, and that means they won’t have to go home. He’s a little worried about leaving Mom there but given how she walked out, she may be thinking of staying away too.

He pulls his phone out and calls. Bryce picks up on the third ring and greets, "Justy?"

"Hey Bryce. I'm in a bit of trouble." He feels his face getting red even admitting it, like he can't call his best friend just to say hi, only if he needs him.

"What kind of trouble?" Bryce's tone is calm but curious.

"Money trouble. Monty and I are at the hospital and the bill is-"

"Say no more, brother. I'll be there in ten, just sit tight."

Relief floods him as he replies, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, see you in a few." 

The line goes dead. Monty looks sick to his stomach and he has the uncomfortable feeling this ends with them telling Bryce someone else helped them yesterday which landed them in trouble today. He doesn't like it, feels he's somehow let Bryce down and the other boy isn't even here yet.

He’s cleared after that and Monty gives him spare clothes from the car to put on. They move down to the waiting room in the front and watch as Bryce arrives exactly on time and pays off the bill without batting an eyelash and when one of the people tries to say something he brow beats them about overcharging for basics and running more tests than necessary since they all tell the same thing and concludes by saying they should be happy he’s in a rush and isn’t contacting his lawyer which all has the effect of cowing them.

That done, he comes over to them, looks them up and down and says, “You both look like hell, your old man do all this?”

There thankfully aren’t any doctors or nurses or anyone around to hear so when Monty nods, he isn’t surprised by the honesty.

Bryce shakes his head “Wow, you guys must have pissed him off big time to get all this. What happened?”

“A trip to the bar.”

Monty helps him up as Bryce replies to Monty, “Come on, even for him that’s a bit much, there has to be something more to it.”

There’s a tension that he doesn’t fully make sense of until Bryce continues, “But hey, I guess if it is you guys are good to go home.”

They’re outside now and he says, “We may have-left him in jail overnight.”

Bryce rolls his eyes, “Land himself in the drunk tank again? It’s his own damn fault though, that all that caused this?”

“Well Mom was in there too for something else and we bailed her out but not him.”

The silence is deafening for a moment until Bryce says, “You should have called me. I could have helped! I could have stopped-” he makes a gesture at both of them, “this from happening.”

Bryce shakes his head and says, “Well come on. Monty-” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wad of cash, “Go get that prescription for painkillers filled. I’ll take Justy back to my place and get him settled down.”

And so fifteen minutes later, he’s up in Bryce’s room, lying on the bed, TV turned on to some action movie with less plot and more explosions. Bryce sits next to him and after a while of watching says, “I wish you had called me yesterday, I could have stopped all of this from happening.”

Bryce’s tone is soft and sad and it makes him feel like he’s let the other boy down somehow and it hurts as much as his ribs now that the painkillers are wearing off.

“How did you manage it anyway? I’m sure your mom couldn’t have been that much cheaper.”

“We-our boss came and helped. They were-if we didn’t get one of them out they were going to take us and they wanted an adult to come and do it.”

“I could have gotten my mom to come. You should have called. You know I’d do anything for you brother. Like let you and Monty hang around till you're all healed. Might need to move you out to the pool house though.”

“That-thank you. Really.”

“Anything for you, brother.”

They lapse into silence after that, he’s tired and even though his ribs are hurting more now, he finds his eyes are pretty heavy. Still, as he fights to stay awake, he wonders what it says about him that even though Bryce would have made yesterday easier, he thinks in the same situation he’d still call Nash. It probably makes him a bad brother cause Monty got hurt too, and stupid cause six weeks is a long time to pay for something, and probably ungrateful since Bryce has always come through when they really needed him. 

And yet-Nash was incredible last night and this morning. He doesn’t think Bryce-or even Monty, has ever made him feel that safe and it’s nothing against them. He loves both of his brothers but Bryce, thankfully, isn’t ever in the apartment with them and Monty-Monty is terrifying when fighting but he isn’t invincible, they’ve both been hurt and beat up. Monty makes him feel safer but only because they can tag team Dad in a pinch and even then it comes with pain. Nash-well he’s only seen the man violent once and it was hazy because he had just been shot but he seems like he could handle Dad as well as anyone.

He drifts off trying to sort through all of the complicated emotions and trying to figure out how bad it makes him, or how ungrateful he is. It isn’t pleasant, not at all and he tries to convince himself that when he wakes up, he’ll be able to ignore the questions bothering his brain right now.

He isn’t, he’s woken up by Monty nudging him. He’s offered a pill and some water and then he goes back to sleep. 

He wakes up again much later in the early morning hours. Bryce is sound asleep to his left, Monty curled up tightly to his right. The room is freezing because of the air conditioner but with two warm bodies on either side, he isn’t too bothered. By that at least. He grabs Monty’s hand and that wakes the other boy up immediately.

“M’sorry.”

“Why?”

“I’d do it again even though you got hurt.”

A blank look prompts him to explain, “I would ask for Nash’s help again even though Bryce could have done it better and even though you got hurt because we asked Nash.”

“I’m sorry too. I would do the same even though you got hurt worse than me.”

He almost heaves a sigh of relief except that it would hurt but it’s at least one load off his chest. The other is going to have to stay cause Bryce doesn’t get these kinds of conversations but at least one is gone.

“Go back to sleep Jus, if you think any louder you’ll wake him up and you know how grouchy he is.”

A soft giggle is all he manages before following the directions and letting sleep claim him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is the morning after Separation Anxiety but I wrote them separate and decided to post them separate just because it would have been massive together. The boys get to spend a little more time with Nash before reality comes crashing back down. Luckily good ol' Bryce is around to bail them out...not literally but you get the point.
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week and I think it's time to get back to Nora so have to decide on what to post for her.
> 
> Hopefully you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below. As always a big thanks to De-La-Cruz87 for her help beta reading!


	29. Old Man Chatham

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life in the Walker house post accident starts to settle down and then a new, curmudgeonly problem is dropped in their laps. Justin wants to help, Monty wants to leave it alone. Justin of course wins out.

As soon as Nora enters the kitchen, he can tell something’s wrong. She’s tense and looks unhappy in a way he’s never seen and before he can tell himself to listen to Monty’s advice and not get involved he asks, "Is everything okay?"

She looks surprised, one hand on the refrigerator door looking like a deer in headlights and he has a feeling she didn’t realize he was there.

"Yes of course, why wouldn’t it be?"

He hesitates, wonders if he somehow misread the signs but decides to push on. "You seem sad."

She opens her mouth, he thinks to deny what he said, but thinks better of it and says, "I need you to get Monty and Bryce and be in my office in five minutes."

He tenses up. Maybe she plans to kick them out. Well him and Monty. It’s been four months since the accident. Bryce has his prosthetic, is walking, sometimes with help but still, going to school, he doesn’t really need them, not physically. Emotionally is a little harder to gauge, he’s still moody, prone to fits of anger and he still throws things, not at anyone anymore thankfully, and yells and can be really, really sullen and mean, but that isn’t everyday anymore, in fact some days he seems back to his old self and most days he’s...okay. Maybe even okay enough to not need him and Monty living here full time. It’s-well he guesses he knew it was coming, this was never supposed to be a permanent deal but still, his heart feels kind of heavy as he goes up to find Bryce and Monty.

Five minutes later they’re in front of Nora in her office, Bryce looks slightly annoyed, Monty carefully blank and he’s practically ready to jump out of his skin just from anxiety and it only gets worse because Nora doesn’t say anything for several moments and then turns to address Bryce.

"I’ve received a call from your grandfather’s doctors, they believe the cancer is too advanced and will be terminal. They give him three months, maybe four."

He thinks it makes him a bad person that he almost feels relieved that this apparently isn’t about kicking him and Monty out, especially since a man is dying.

Nora continues, "They’re releasing him from the facility he’s in to free the bed up for someone less advanced with a better chance of survival but they don’t think he should return home so he’s coming to stay with us."

Bryce makes a face, "You can’t be serious."

"I am and there’s more. He’ll require the care of a full time nurse while he is with us."

He itches to say something but he doesn’t know what and at the same time he doesn’t want to remind Nora that he and Monty are here because two new people coming to live in the house might mean that they are getting kicked out anyway because-

"And you boys." Too late. "My father is unpleasant. If you would like to stay, your help for the past few months has been much appreciated but I understand if you want to go at any point after meeting him."

He glances at Monty who meets his eyes. It’s phrased as a choice for them, but their parents have done similar things only for there to be one right answer. 

"You shouldn’t talk about him like that." Bryce sounds sullen and he reaches out to nudge the older boy’s shoulder only for Bryce to squirm away from it. He doesn’t take it personally, Bryce was moody before this.

"I am only saying what’s true." 

Nora’s reply is practical and blunt and he can see Bryce ready to argue, the tension in his shoulders evident and a vein in his neck popping out a little but before Bryce can stay anything and start a war Monty cuts in. "We’ll stay." 

Some of the tension leaves Bryce and he wishes he could be as calm as Monty but he doesn’t think he can be so he just nods his agreement.

Apparently not willing to let the matter rest completely, Bryce cuts in and demands, "When is he coming." 

"Two days from now. I’ll be getting the back guest room set up and hiring a nurse for him in the meantime."

Bryce snorts, "You’re putting him all the way back there? You could at least pretend you want him closer."

"He needs to be on the first floor and the back room is cooler and has a better view from the window."

He can’t help but feel that as reasonable as the explanation is, it isn’t completely true and Nora has another reason but since Bryce doesn’t push, he lets it go.

The conversation ends not long after, he offers her help setting up the room which she accepts and they talk a little more about etiquette with the man that will be coming and then she dismisses him and Monty to talk to Bryce alone.

Over the course of the next two days, the atmosphere of the house is uncomfortable and oppressive. He helps Nora with the room which doesn't require too much work since it’s already set up as a bedroom. She’s tense the whole time though, dusting the room while he vacuums and it continues as they move in clothes sent ahead of the man. It’s quiet work which makes the tension all the more noticeable and finally he breaks it.

"I’m sorry."

She looks at him confused and then asks, "For what?"

He gestures around the room. "This. It can’t be easy. I mean your dad-" He can’t find the words because, well her dad is dying and how do you say that kindly?

She gives him an odd look and then pats his head and says, "Life isn’t easy." 

He shifts, Nora rarely engages in physical contact and her doing it now makes him think she’s more emotional about something than usual.

"Still-"

"I appreciate your concern."

He doesn’t really have a reply to that so he doesn’t.

Mr. Chatham arrives in the evening shortly before dinner. It’s Marisa’s night off so he’s making dinner when the man comes. It’s a relief that he’s finally here, the day has been strange, the tension of the previous days magnified in some ways but repressed in others. They had lunch together during which Nora and Bryce both pretended everything was fine but Bryce was sullen and moody besides that and Nora was more devoted to her work than usual. She joined them for lunch but besides that she’s been holed up in her study until now.

There’s a flurry of activity but he stays at the oven, trying not the be nosy because Monty always reminds him that it isn’t a good thing and he knows it’s unattractive too but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dying for a glimpse of the man who’s caused all of this. He does get his chance though, the only way to the back bedroom that he helped Nora get ready is past the kitchen and sure enough, after a long, muffled conversation, Nora comes past the kitchen assisting an old man. His hair is cut close to his scalp and white and his face is wrinkled. He seems to be a perfectly normal old man as far as Justin can tell but then even with how slow they’re moving, he only sees the man for maybe a minute or so. And anyway after that his timer goes off and refocuses him on dinner.

He’s surprised when ten minutes later instead of them all eating together, everyone seems to be keeping their distance from each other. He watched Nora go upstairs and to her office without even looking at the food and Bryce never came downstairs to greet the old man and so Monty is his only company.

"You shouldn’t get involved."

He blushes wondering how Monty seems to be able to read his mind. "I-"

"You were thinking of some way to get them all together."

"So what if I was? They’re family and they need each other right now."

"Clearly they don’t think so. Don’t get involved. If they want each other they’ll figure it out on their own."

"Someone should at least bring them dinner."

"Two of them know where the food is and will come when ready."

"And Nora’s dad?"

Monty doesn’t reply right away but eventually says. "Let Nora take care of him."

He frowns and Monty sighs, "He isn’t a kind man Justin."

"You've never talked to him."

"I don’t need to."

"He’s dying isn’t he? I’m sure that would make most people uncomfortable around him and he was at a facility before this. He’s probably lonely and tired of only doctors for company."

Monty clearly doesn’t believe him but let’s him put a plate together and ventures through the house. The bedroom door is open and he can see the man inside reading. He taps on the door and brings the tray of food in, a smile spread across his face.

"Mr. Chatham? I brought dinner."

The man turns to look at him and something about the gaze is unsettling. It’s too intense, soul searching almost.

"Don’t look me in the eye." The man’s voice is hard and cold, really unpleasant to listen to.

He opens his mouth to reply but he’s caught between confusion and a sudden sense that Monty was right and he bit off more than he could chew.

"Are you deaf? I told you not to look at me."

He looks down and approaches the bed. The man is hungry and cranky and that’s only compounding the fear of dying. Once he eats he might be in a better mood and so Justin sets the tray down.

"What is this?"

"Um chicken?" It’s pretty obvious what it is. Roasted chicken, rice, and green beans. He had wanted to try stuffing the chicken but the last time he tried he couldn’t get it to cook right and Bryce had been unhappy. Actually everyone had because he needed to put the chicken back in for almost an hour and everyone was hungry and cranky after that so today he wanted to keep it basic and safe.

"Chicken is pauper food."

He feels a blush rising.

"And what kind of servant makes food without asking. I’m sure even my daughter is competent enough to manage a house, she hasn’t been doing anything else for the last thirty years."

"Nora can manage the house and she lets me do the cooking on Marisa’s nights off."

In truth he isn’t totally sure what it means to manage a house, he has some idea but he’s sure there’s a whole lot of things he’s never even thought of that go into it. Doesn't matter though, Nora can do whatever it is. She’s just so competent and organized that he can’t imagine it being too hard for her.

"That’s Mrs. Walker to you, or whatever she calls herself these days. Now, return _this_ ," he says it as if Justin brought him something actually disgusting, like pasta and ketchup and not real food, "to the kitchen and I’ll take a steak, rare. I suppose these...trimmings are acceptable with it."

"We don’t have any steak and I’m not a servant. This is dinner and it was good enough for everyone else so it’s good enough for you." At least it has been in the past. Bryce likes it and he thinks Nora does too. Today no one seems to have much of an appetite and he gets it now.

The man draws himself up. "Boy what else are you paid for if not as a servant."

Blood rushes to his face but this time out of anger and not embarrassment. "I’m not paid for anything. I’m here to help Bryce." 

"My grandson can get on without the help of your kind, he still has his pride and can’t afford you tarnishing it."

He bites his tongue and reminds himself to be nice. More with honey than vinegar and all that but usually it comes naturally to him. 

"Until he tells me to go, I’m staying."

A sneer, "So you can keep sponging off my family like some sort of disease? You aren’t needed or wanted."

"Maybe not, but with you here I won’t be the most unwelcomed person in this house."

Wrong thing to say because the glass of water that was on the tray shatters on the wall next to his head and for a moment he freezes because the man is now yelling and he can’t seem to breathe and he can’t seem to move.

A hand settles on his arm and he sucks breath in. Monty stands next to him and he can breathe again. 

"Why don’t you head back to the kitchen? I’ll clean up here."

He can’t help but feel like he’s running away but the man is still yelling and maybe he is running but he can’t really think.

\----------

Monty gets to the door in time to hear the glass shatter and on his way in, he observes the old man inside. He’s not impressed but he didn’t expect to be. People like Chatham and Bryce are all the same, they may look different but it’s only superficial, they’re small people who only feel big when someone is around for them to abuse. That he intimidates Nora is a little surprising but Monty’s pretty sure he can handle the old man and so walks in.

First order of business is Justin who isn’t far from a panic attack. He’d like to grab the old man by the neck and shake him a little but he crushes that because being angry will only upset Justin. Instead he reaches over and settles a hand on his brother’s arm gently and suggests, "Why don’t you head back to the kitchen? I’ll clean up here."

Color returns to Justin’s face and he moves so the younger boy can slide past him and out the door. He’s glad the glass is on the other side and not between Justin and the door because they’re both barefoot and he doesn’t need that. 

Then he turns his attention to the man.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

He waits until Justin is out the door and down the hall before he closes the door. "His brother."

"Your Mexican."

He can’t help the smirk that comes to his face. It’s said with such disgust for only identifying, incorrectly, his race.

"Some things run deeper than blood."

A sneer. "Well go away, I’m not in the mood to see people."

Monty can’t really say he’s surprised by the flippant command, given with all the force of someone who expects it to be followed without any more thought than most people say good morning. When Monty doesn’t immediately leave, the man’s even less savory side comes out.

"I said get out. I know you speak more than Mexican so you understand me."

"I understand you just fine and I will but first you and I are going to have a little talk and make sure we’re both on the same page. You’re going to die, maybe not too long from now. I promise you that the only person who might put up with your shit is my brother so if you don’t want to be lonely until you die, I suggest you be nice to him, but if you take advantage of that I will make your life even more miserable."

The man’s face turns an interesting shade of purple but he ignores it in favor of collecting some of the larger pieces of glass from the floor while the man chokes on his words. Finally he says, "Get out you miserable little beggar. Go back to whatever slum you crawled out of."

Looking up at the man, he thinks he’s looking evil in the eye. It isn’t new, not really. He’s seen the old man, Seth, Bryce, Barry, he’s looked in a mirror and seen a twisted form of himself looking back before. The evil isn’t new, the kind of evil might be though. It’s more sophisticated than the old man or Seth and less cocky than Bryce, closest to Barry he thinks but different still. He always thought that for Barry, being cruel was as much what he deemed as necessity as it was whatever kind of rush it gave him. Looking into this man’s eyes, he’s pretty sure most of Chatham’s evil stems from the feeling that nothing he does is wrong, either that he’s entitled to say and do whatever he wants or that the words and actions are justified through some sort of necessity that he believes is present.

It doesn’t matter though, whatever the reason is, this man is a monster and doesn’t seem to care. 

"If that’s how you feel, don’t say I didn’t warn you." He gets up and leaves, his threat left in the air. He’s already dealing with Bryce’s attitude and the other boy has loads to spare but Monty thinks he can probably handle Bryce and his grandpa at the same time, one’s a cripple and the other a dying man. All he needs to do is figure out how to make good on his threat to the old man if he doesn’t take Monty’s advice.

"Wait."

He turns wondering if he misread the situation.

"Take this garbage and tell that other boy to never make something like this again for me."

He strugs, crosses the room to retrieve the tray of uneaten food, and then leaves, closing the door behind him to hopefully keep some of man’s nastiness contained. He’d rather go talk to Justin anyway, he wasted far too much time on this man.

\---------

About five minutes later, Monty comes back to the kitchen, tray in hand, and stone faced.

"You were right." He’s calmed down enough to talk and now he just feels embarrassed. Monty gave good advice, he ignored it, and now he looks like a coward. His brother sets the tray down on the counter and crosses over to where he’s sitting, wrapping his arms around Justin in a gruff hug that he can’t help but lean into, feeling even more embarrassed because of it.

"I should have stopped you from going in."

He manages to pull away enough to look up at his brother. "This isn’t your fault! I should have listened to you in the first place."

A sigh and somehow that annoys him a little. "I’m not a kid Monty. You can’t protect me from the world."

"Still. I don’t like seeing you upset."

He leans his head back against Monty’s chest and says, "Well I’ve learned my lesson if it means anything."

A hand threads through his hair absently while the other remains hot and comforting on his back as Monty replies, "So you won’t go back and try to talk to him?"

"Nah, I probably will, I just won’t do it unless I need to. And I’m sure as hell not going in there alone but Nora...I mean leaving her to him on her own would be mean."

"Guess I’ll have to take what I can get."

"I’m sorry. I know-you’re just trying to keep me safe, but if I left her to him I wouldn’t forgive myself."

"Yea, I know. If you were different you wouldn’t be you."

He blushes but Monty doesn’t say any more and returns to his seat. They sit in silence for a while, comfortable until Monty glances at the clock and says, "We should make sure Bryce eats and does his exercises. Not that we need to prove to that wrinkled old bastard we’re necessary but if we don’t do it he won’t eat and be a pain in the ass tomorrow morning."

He lets out a laugh because Bryce can be a bit of an ass in the morning and if he wakes up hungry he’s that much more irritable. He gets up and gets a plate together while Monty waits for him so they can go up together. Life’s just changed again in a big way because of this but it isn’t forever and it isn’t the end of the world either. There will be an adjustment period and it won’t be fun but it’s got nothing on having to learn one of his mom’s boyfriends so they’ll be fine. They could spend more time talking about it and trying to plan but they don’t have any information to do that and besides, they’ll be together so worrying isn’t worth it anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was planning on a Nora chapter for this week but I realized a lot of the Nora chapters I have revolve around her father coming to stay with them so I decided to post this chapter this week to get him into the house. Of course the only character arguably worse than Barry or Bryce is old man Chatham, pig extraordinaire, racist, sexist, classist and probably the least pleasant man in existence. Justin of course wants to see the good in everyone, Monty is more cynical but ends up being right on this one and luckily is there to sort shit out. 
> 
> Now that this chapter is out, next week can be a Nora chapter and it should be out on Friday, sorry for making you wait on it since people seemed excited to get back to her this week.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments. Who do you think is the worse? Barry, Bryce, or Old man Chatham? Also big thank you to De_La_Cruz87 for beta reading, you should check out her channel when you can for more great stories!


	30. Butterflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting a nurse to help her father die comfortably really shouldn't be anything more than a grim task. Unfortunately when she meets that nurse, things get a little more complicated and of course, Justin Foley is going to make things more difficult.

Nora watches Henri as he stirs his coffee and doesn’t like that she’s enjoying listening to him talk. His accent is smooth and pleasant, African she thinks, and she could listen to it all day without even caring about what he was saying. Unfortunately, what he is saying is both of great importance, and distinctly unpleasant. Information on her father and how to care for him and what his role in the care will be and what part she will be responsible for. She wishes, irrationally, that this wasn’t the case. That they were simply enjoying a cup of coffee but she doesn’t know him at all. 

"Ma’am?"

She realizes he’s looking at her intently and she clears her throat, "Come again?"

"Do you have any questions."

"No, not right now." She’s far too embarrassed to admit she hasn’t been paying nearly enough attention to ask anything intelligent. 

"Well if you think of anything feel free to ask."

"I will, thank you."

He nods and then stands up, "Shall we go see your father?"

She stands up too and leads him through the house to the room her father is in. She’s almost ashamed to say it but she made sure to put the man as far from the rest of the bedrooms as she could. It wasn’t exactly difficult, he needed to be on the first floor anyway but she probably didn’t need to put him all the way in the back of the house and it makes her feel somewhat bad that she wishes there was an even more distant place to banish him to but there isn’t. Henri doesn’t comment on it at least; she wants to make a good impression which is silly because she’s paying him for his work and that’s as far as the relationship goes. If only her heart would listen to her head. She’s much too old for butterflies in her stomach like some silly school girl who falls in love at a glance. 

When they arrive she knocks on the door and lets them in. Her father unsurprisingly is not happy about her choice of nurse for him and makes it known, loudly. Monty wanders in at some point and she can't help but feel a little better that the boy is there. Her father is eighty nine and dying but the feeling of having backup is appreciated, even if that back up is a sometimes surly teenager. Still, Monty makes life easier when the man goes from criticizing her to racist comments directed at Henri. 

"You’re dying. This man can stay and make you more comfortable, or he can leave and you can be more miserable."

A few Mexican barbs are directed his way but Monty shrugs them off and after that her father settles down. Henri finishes his first checks, talks to her father a little to explain some things and they leave, Monty returning upstairs, presumably to Justin and Bryce. Once back in the kitchen she looks awkwardly at the man and says "I’m sorry he’s like that."

He shakes his head. "We can’t control what our parents are like any more than we can control what anyone but ourselves are like. In the end, everyone acts as they wish." He pauses for a moment and then says, "Was that your son with us?"

Oh right, she never mentioned that there were two other boys living in the house. "My nephew. He and his brother are here to help with my son." It’s only half a lie.

He nods and she says, "I can show you to your room now if you’re ready."

"Yes, please." 

He stays in there to unpack while she excuses herself to do work in her office.

Around dinner time she returns to the kitchen intent on heating up leftovers Marisa left only to find Justin at the stove making what smells like chicken soup and Henri at the table sipping coffee, the pair in a heated debate about something basketball related.

When he sees her, Henri nods and says, "Hello Ma’am, were you successful with your work for today?"

"I was, thank you. I hope my nephew wasn’t talking your ear off." She supposes in hindsight that telling the boys about her lie would have been a good idea but she gets the feeling things like this aren’t new to them and Justin doesn’t bat an eyelash at it.

"Not at all, in fact he made my break very entertaining."

"Why don’t you sit down? Dinner’s almost ready." She follows Justin’s suggestion and while she waits tries to engage Henri in conversation. It’s awkward and she hates to admit it, but she’s very jealous of Justin’s people skills which despite him being about a third of her age, feel much more developed. Henri doesn’t seem bothered by it though and Justin fades into the background until he announces dinner being ready.

He brings the pot to the table and sets it down, scoops out two bowls and puts them on a tray and disappears upstairs, leaving her alone with Henri.

They dish themselves up and continue talking a little but only about surface things and business. It’s disappointing but she enjoys it anyway. Justin shows up again to take a bowl to her father and then rejoins them, to her surprise and slight disappointment.

"I thought you would be eating upstairs with Bryce."

He gives a wry smile and replies, "He’s being a little difficult. Monty said to leave it to him."

Well, she can’t argue with that. At the very least, despite being there, Justin says little and seems content to eat and listen to her and Henri talk, only occasionally speaking up. She finds herself very much regretting when Henri moves.

"Dinner was delicious, the company even better but now I have to go see my patient, if you’ll excuse me."

Once he’s gone Justin looks at her with a smirk on his face. Her mood sours immediately.

"What."

He laughs as he collects the dishes, "Nothing. It’s about time I go back up and make sure they’re both still alive, we haven’t heard anything from them and it’s been over an hour."

She looks at her watch, shocked to find it has been that long for such a simple meal and doesn’t even point out to him that they shouldn’t be hearing anything from Bryce’s room based on how far away it is from the kitchen.

Over the next two days she finds herself frustratingly distracted by Henri. Thankfully the boys deal with Bryce and that’s one less problem for her but even work seems less appealing and she finds herself less focused on it, even when she’s in the building physically, the days she goes in. Her father of course is the only thing more distracting than Henri as he continues being himself and being supremely unpleasant and she finds herself embarrassed by the man. It isn’t new, but him being so intolerant to his nurse is much worse than his nastiness directed at her or Justin and Monty.

She returns to her office after dealing with her father to find Justin sitting in there waiting. She normally doesn’t allow any of the boys in here, it’s her space and she doesn’t feel bad keeping them out of here or the master bedroom so she almost snaps at him because she’s already not in a great mood.

He begins talking before she can. "He was born in Algeria and has a French name and speaks the language but he’s rusty in it. His parents moved to the U.S. when he was a little and he’s been living here mostly since then. I think his dad died young from a disease and that’s why he decided to be a care nurse but I’m not totally sure about that. He’s a big sports fan, soccer and basketball are his favorites but he watches baseball and hockey too, and thinks American football, rugby, and wrestling are ‘barbaric’. He likes classic rock, jazz, and classical music and prefers listening to that last one when he’s working or needs to think. He’s a wine drinker, if he drinks which he seems to avoid most of the time, and likes French food second only to his native Algerian. Family is important to him. He’s single, has never married, is forty six and available, a good talker and listener, and if you need any more information I can probably get it but you need to tell me what it is."

It’s undignified, but her jaw hits the floor. When she manages to pick it up all she can think to ask is, "How?"

A smirk comes across his face, not mocking like Bryce’s but satisfied, pleased with himself even. "It’s all about asking the right questions the right way. I’m serious, if you need anything else, just ask."

"I can’t-we have a contract right now it wouldn’t be proper."

A shrug. "It would be more improper to let this go and not try. It’s not like you’ll fire him or not pay him or something if he doesn’t return feelings."

"I’m old and-"

"And somehow that means you can’t love again?" He watches her with those big blue eyes and for the first time she has the feeling they’re looking into her heart. Normally it’s Monty who gives her that impression, not Justin.

"It’s too early for talk like that."

He shrugs. "Maybe. But if you never try to get to know him, it’ll always be too early until it's too late. He won’t be working here forever." He stands up and heads to the door pausing at it and saying, "Just think about it. Please? You might decide you don’t like him in the end but you need to get to a point where you can say that for sure one way or the other." And then he’s gone, leaving her to her rollercoaster of thoughts and wondering how to sort them all out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a new chapter. So here is the Nora chapter I promised 2 weeks ago but hopefully it's clear why I needed to post the Old Man Chatham chapter from last week. Anyway in this chapter I decided to try something. I will have Nora hanging around for a long time in the post accident plot and I wanted her to have a life outside the boys, naturally, but also didn't know how to write about a yoga studio and wanted her to have at least 1 positive experience with a man in her life.
> 
> I have a posting schedule set up for myself for the next 3 weeks so I know what's coming pretty far in advance for once which is nice. Next is a Monty chapter cause it's been a while, then a Justin chapter with Nash, and then another Monty chapter.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments. Also if you have an idea for a chapter let me know and I'll see what I can do for it. Finally, a big thanks to De La Cruz87 for all her help!


	31. Sunshine Armor (M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At a party on Justin's birthday, but decidedly not for his birthday, Monty observes his brother's tendency to smile in the face of disappointment, adversity, and soul crushing blows. A conversation with Scott sheds some light on the reason but it isn't until Amber makes a mess of things that Monty decides they need to talk about it.

“And then you can go get the keg set up in the backyard, just keep it away from the pool, yeah? I don’t want to have to deal with that bullshit again if a lot gets spilled in there.”

Monty resists the urge to roll his eyes both at Bryce issuing commands like some kind of king and at the implication that he ‘dealt’ with it last time when Luke tripped over the keg and spilled about an eighth of it in the pool. He and Justin had been given buckets to try scooping it out and they had been the ones the next day on pool duty, backwashing the filter and recharging it over and over again.

Next to him Justin makes a move to get the keg with a cheerful, “Sure.”

He wonders how this is supposed to count as the younger boy’s birthday party when he’s stuck setting up and will probably end up cleaning up as well. They’ve already been here for two hours getting the house party ready and even though he’s pretty sure Justin doesn’t want half of this, the younger boy has remained cheerful throughout.

Birthday or not, this has been a miserable day: they woke up to arguing, almost got pulled into a fight but the old bastard passed out drunk before he could take a swing. He doesn’t have a present for Justin, Amber forgot it was his birthday, the blood sucking landlord came looking for rent money, and when Bryce texted to promise a safe haven, it was for a massive party that Justin will probably enjoy but isn’t the smaller gathering of friends he knows his brother would prefer for his birthday.

Of course, throughout it all, a bright smile has been on Justin’s face, even when Amber replied ‘payday’ when Justin asked if she knew what the day was, even when Dan appeared and laid claim to the last seven dollars in the apartment, and it persisted even when they got to Bryce’s and rather than finding his friends waiting for him, Justin was handed a duster and put to work.

Part of him is pissed off because Justin has every right to be unhappy and yet, his brother rarely is, at least outwardly. He can barely remember the last time Justin was faced with any obstacle, disappointment, or problem that he didn’t smile at. Bolan giving detention? Smile. Amber inflicting some new cruelty? Smile for that too. Being told dinner that night is a bottle of water because it’s all they have? Smile again.

As the night goes on, he continues to watch as Justin gets more and more reasons to not want to smile, yet it never slips from his face. His brother gets used as a cheap talking piece by Bryce who introduces him to a lot of the people at the party who he doesn't know, then he gets to babysit a very drunk Samantha, one of the few people his brother doesn’t like, as Bryce steals her friend to fuck, and to cap it all off, he passes Samantha off to one of her friends as he goes to talk with Wanita, only for Samantha to stumble back and throw up all over all three of them.

And yet despite the few moments after being thrown up on, Justin smiled or laughed his way through the whole day. He almost wants Justin to get angry, to yell and complain or at least show some kind of disappointment with what seems like has been a pretty miserable day for him. The more he thinks about it the less sense it makes. Justin has a soft underbelly. Words hurt him and actions do too. Bryce knew what Justin would have preferred but didn’t do it, worse, he used Justin as a pawn in his scheme to get laid, and Amber’s opinion means something to Justin and her forgetting it’s his birthday hurt him for sure. The whole thing makes no sense and that bothers him. He moves from the wall he’s leaning on and decides it’s time to track down some answers.

13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW

“I need your help.”

Scott passes him a blunt, “Way ahead of you. Take a few hits, loosen up and go talk to that busty redhead who’s been giving you eyes all night.”

He pushes it back and shakes his head. “Not with that.”

Scott raises an eyebrow.

“It’s Justin.”

Scott rolls his eyes, “Duh, should have known. What’s wrong with the kid now?”

“He’s smiling.”

“Crazy isn’t it? Some people actually do that.”

“He’s had probably the worst birthday he could have ever had.”

Scott shrugs, “I dunno about that, he isn’t in the house of sadness alone with Amber.”

“Amber forgot and Bryce used him to get sex.”

“Sounds like what I’d expect from them.”

“And he got thrown up on.”

“Ew. Sam?”

“Yep. But he’s still smiling.”

“And it pisses you off?”

He opens his mouth to deny it but...Scott isn’t far off. It bothers him. He wanted a better day for Justin and the fact that it’s not but Justin is still smiling through it all like it’s okay is unfair. Stupid as that is to say cause life is unfair but still. Justin has every right to be upset, hurt, or angry but he’s kept on with that smile plastered on his face like nothing is wrong and he has no idea why. “I just don’t get it.”

Scott reaches over and forms his knuckles into a fist and taps gently on Monty’s upper arm which he pulls away annoyed and asks, “What are you doing?”

“Checking to see if it clanged. You’ve got armor, Monty. Heavy, metal shit and sometimes I think it might be real and not just around your heart.”

He rolls his eyes, “Yes. I know. We’ve been through this. How does it help?”

“Justy has armor too, just made of sunshine.”

He blinks and looks at the blunt between the other boy’s fingers. “How high are you?”

“High enough. Think about it. You can’t look at the sun too long can you?”

He shakes his head wondering if maybe he should have asked someone else, and then realizing there aren’t too many other people to ask.

Scott continues in the silence, “That’s Justin’s game, if he acts happy enough, no one looks deeper. And it works too.”

“But why?”

Scott shrugs, “Same reason you try to convince everyone you’re made of metal and I’m high if I have the choice. He figured out a way to get through life and he’s rolling with it.”

He pauses to mull it over. It does make sense to a certain extent, life with Amber isn’t easy and while Justin doesn’t thrive, someone less talented than his brother would probably be doing much worse off. Justin’s a master of deflection and distractions and he’s good at talking his way out of tight spots. The perpetually bright disposition is just another tool, he convinces people he’s okay before they even have a reason to ask.

“Should I talk to him about it?”

Scott shrugs. “Up to you. Our Justy is comfortable with his technique, same as we are with ours. Just remember he basically worships you so anything you say, he’ll take to heart...and hide it behind a smile.”

And that makes him pause. It’s true, in fact it’s the point of this conversation. This conversation might be a bad idea. Justin will treat what he says as truth, same as he does with Bryce, and if he thinks Monty is criticizing- he doesn’t want to hurt Justin.

13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW13RW

He holds out a few weeks, debating if he should or shouldn’t talk to Justin about it. There are good reasons not to and Scott is right, Justin is comfortable with his methods. Who is he to come in and tell Justin he’s wrong and mess it up? So instead he tries to forget about it and ignore it because Justin knows what he’s doing, he’s fourteen and got along fine without Monty for thirteen and half of those years.

In the end, the choice isn’t left up to him because of Amber being Amber. He misses the beginning but comes in time to hear her say that Justin is just like his father, her go-to way to cause as much hurt as she can with as little effort as possible. He contemplates how wonderful it would feel to slam her head against the sink but he’s distracted by the obviously false smile that comes over Justin’s face. Amber, her ‘work’ complete, leaves the apartment with one last barb about needing something to get her through this. In her wake, she leaves a mess like always.

Silence reigns for a minute and then Justin, fake smile and all, sets about washing the sinks worth of week old dirty dishes.

With a sigh, he decides it’s now or never and says, “You know you don’t always have to smile.”

Justin freezes and glances up at him.

“No one expects you to be happy all the time.”

He watches Justin hesitate for a moment and then say uncertainty, “People like me when I’m smiling.”

He doesn’t reply, not sure what Justin means and knowing that the younger boy will say more on his own if given the chance. 

“They have their own problems and worries and they want someone to laugh and smile with. They don’t like me as much when I’m not smiling and I don’t like me as much when I’m not smiling.”

He bites his tongue and decides not to say Justin’s problems are more real than pretty much anyone else's because it’s too combative and not something Justin will agree with anyway. Even that is hard because Justin’s response is so typical of his brother, always worried about other people when he should be worried about himself and his own situation which is more dire than anything their friends are likely to experience.

“And them not liking you is a problem?” Of course it is because Justin lives on the love of other people and without it he worries his brother would turn into someone as cold as him and that’s not okay. Still, from what Justin is saying, it sounds like they should get over it and be able to deal with his brother not being happy for a while when it’s warranted.

“I-” Justin pauses and then continues, “People always tell me how much they like being around me. I always make their day better and they come to laugh and smile with me when everything else seems hard and if I stopped smiling they might stop coming to me.”

Again he chooses not to say anything. Silence always seems like a sure-fire way to get Justin to nervously babble his feelings out.

“And if they stop coming...if I give them a reason to stay away-” His brother cuts himself off.

“If you give them a reason stay away?”

“What if I’m alone?”

“You won't be, people like you.”

“When I'm happy.” Justin's insistence is a cross between terrified and acceptance of the situation as he perceives it. "Mom doesn't want anything to do with me when I'm not happy and Bryce always tells me to smile more and if they think that then-" He cuts himself off for a moment and finishes, “It's better this way. I don't want to be alone.”

A sharp pain in his hands reminds him there is something beyond the coil of rage in his stomach and he realizes that his fists are so tightly clenched that his fingernails have stabbed into his skin hard enough to draw blood. If he could get his hands on Bryce and Amber right now-

But he can't and that might be for the best since murdering them isn't helpful at the moment.

“See? You don't like me right now either.”

He bites his tongue and closes his eyes to count to three, willing the anger to go away or at least drop to a manageable amount. It doesn't, but he doesn't have the luxury of waiting for it to do so and opens his eyes.

“I want to know what you're feeling. When you're happy but when you're anything else too.”

He watches Justin's shoulders, the boy's back is still to him. There isn't a reply which coming from Justin is as good as a denial. He can almost hear the younger boy saying, 'No you don't, you want me to be happy too. It's okay, I know how to be happy, I'm good at it'. 

That doesn't help his rage and he tries to push it back and speak in a level voice. “I don't want you to act happy, I want you to **be** happy.”

Justin turns to face him, wearing an uncertain look. “I’m not sure I want to take that chance.”

“If there was ever someone to take the chance on, it’s me.”

“Why’s that?”

The interest makes him feel a little bolder, that Justin is at least curious and that means maybe he’ll be willing to play ball.

“We’re brothers.”

Justin seems to mull that over for a minute and he continues, “We live together so it’s not like I’m not going anywhere.”

The younger boy still seems uncertain.

“And if you think you see any change, forget about this whole conversation and go back to what you were doing before.”

Justin nods slowly. “Alright, sure.”

“Sure what?”

“I’ll give it a shot I guess.”

He heaves an internal sigh of relief but after that the conversation the peters out. It isn’t until later that night when they’re in the darkness of their room that Justin murmurs softly, “I’m scared I’m the reason my dad left and I’m scared I’ll be like him and that will be a bad thing.”

He squeezes Justin’s hand and replies, “If he left because of you he doesn’t know bad he fucked up and you wouldn’t run because you’d never want to hurt someone like that and you’re braver than he was.”

“We’ve never met him.”

The underlying question, unvoiced either out of fear or doubt, is how does he know. 

“Easy. I know you. Anyone who goes toe to toe with the old man is braver than running away from an infant.” Anyone willing to put up with Amber and Bryce’s mood swings is already well trained in temper tantrums too but he doesn’t need a fight about those two tonight.

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

Justin doesn’t seem sure, but he lets it go and manages to nod off. Sleeping when they can is important, no telling when or if the adults will be back but if they are, it’s certain to be with a lot of noise and maybe some danger so better to take what they can get now. 

He should follow the example but he’s a little worried he might have made more problems than letting it go would have. It’s too late for that now, he’s spoken the words and now he’ll have to live with whatever comes of it and hope it works out for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter! I wanted to do chapters where each brother gets a chance to try to help the other with a problem they have. For Justin, it seemed the obvious problem was Justin's forced sunny disposition at all times but the hard part of the reasoning behind it. Monty isn't exactly in touch with his emotions so he knows when Justin is faking, but the why was always going to elude him. Cue Scott, who is around to dispense some weed wisdom and shed some light on the subject for Monty. After that the question became how to bring it all to a head and that had so many potential possibilities but in the end, Amber was the easiest. From there, Monty deciding to have a go at this conversation and convincing Justin was all that was left.
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week and is the last Nash chapter I've written.
> 
> Hopefully you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments! A special thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for her help in beta reading for me and go check out her channel for more great stories featuring more Monty, Justin, and a lot of others!


	32. Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting off the bus on their way to work, it doesn't take the brothers long to figure out something is terribly wrong. It doesn't take much longer to figure out what it is, and it takes a few precious seconds and some words for their whole world to come crumbling down.

Justin leads the way through the narrow aisle, talking about Zach unfortunately snorting gatorade at lunch while Monty laughs and admits it sucks it happened in front of Chloe and Monty asks if it being red gatorade and looking like a nose bleed makes it better or worse. The bus drops them off three blocks from Sunrise but even as he gets off, he can tell something is wrong because the sound of sirens pierces the air in a relentless wail. They round the corner in silence, the conversation forgotten, and in front of Sunrise are three police cars and a police van.

His heart sinks but he pushes forward, Monty behind him. No one blocks them from entering but mostly because there aren’t any cops outside, just curious onlookers. His work hat is clenched tightly in his hand as he enters the store, ducking under the crime scene tape.

Inside the store looks almost normal, the register is open, no money left in it, but everything else looks how it should. They push further in and find the storage room door open, inside is a mess and in another circumstance, he might be annoyed at the prospect of having to spend two or three days trying to clean everything up and put it all back in order. 

“What are you kids doing in here!”

A sharp voice cuts through and reminds him that there is a world beyond his heart pounding and Monty’s too.

They whirl around and coming down from upstairs is a cop.

“What’s going on?”

The officer frowns for a moment and then says, “You can’t be here. This is a crime scene and you have to leave.”

“Where’s Nash?”

There’s a shuffling as more people come downstairs and several officers come down carrying bricks of cocaine. He almost throws up. Several give him and Monty odd looks but nothing more and finally Mist-Officer Standall appears at the end of the procession. He looks over at them and breaks into a smile as he recognizes them. “Oh good, you boys are here. I wanted to thank you fo-”

“What’s going on?” He can’t help himself as he cuts in but he needs to know and he knows Monty needs to as well. He doesn’t want to, because the answer seems obvious and it isn’t one he can accept but he needs to, if only to be able to deny it.

“Your former boss was smuggling cocaine. Actually I owe you a thank you, you kids having him come down to the station was what set us on his track, you did a good job for the community.”

He almost does turn around to throw up and his hand finds Monty’s to squeeze it. He slumps back against the older boy, who’s holding himself up with the wall anyway.

Officer Standall frowns and then says, “Didn’t you hear me? You did something great, you’re practically heroes; thanks to you a dangerous and bad man is behind bars where he belongs.”

If this is what being a hero feels like, the cartoons lied and he’d rather be a villain.

Monty speaks behind him. “Where is he?”

His brother’s voice is strange in a way that it hasn’t seemed in a long time. Normally he can tell how his brother is feeling, he knows the way his voice sounds when he’s feeling certain things and knows how to read the blankness to figure out what he’s covering up, but right now he has no idea. It doesn’t really scare him but he was hoping he'd know so that he could try to feel that way, copying would have been easier than sorting out the whirlwind inside him.

“Down at the station being processed. You boys should go home, I’m sure tomorrow you’ll feel better.”

They’re basically pushed out after that, told not to go down to the station because visiting hours are over, and are left standing on the street as the various police vehicles all pull away. He realizes he’s still clenching his work hat in his hand and he at it, his vision blurred by tears. He wants to throw it, slam it on the ground and step on it, but his body can’t move, won’t move. Monty is rigid next to him and finally he reaches for his brother’s hand, he doesn’t remember when he let go of it, and gives a soft tug.

Home is the last place in the world they want to be right now, so instead they set off for the hotel, because at least there they can have some privacy to try to figure out what’s going on.

The rest of the time passes in a blur. They try to get stuff done, homework, making dinner, but everything seems like a monumental task, much too big to accomplish and even sleeping seems like it’ll take too much effort but they end up climbing into sleeping bags early for lack of anything else to do. They’ve hardly spoken, there’s so much to say, and yet nothing at all. They saw the cocaine, it was there, undeniably there. He could almost cry because Nash-why?

He’s furious too. That shit ruins Mom’s life, ruins his life, ruins Monty’s life. He hates it and hates people who sell it because without them, it wouldn’t go anywhere.

But he loves Nash.

Why did Nash have to go and do this? 

And why did they ever call him in the first place? They should have just called Bryce, then none of this would have ever happened and he’d rather not know any of it.

Finally he says, “I’m going. Tomorrow. To talk to him.”

Even saying the words takes a lot out of him but Monty hums, apparently unwilling or unable to use words, he can sympathize. 

He doesn’t think he sleeps at all that night, doesn’t think Monty does, either. They just lie awake and maybe doze off from time to time, only to remember that this is real and happening.

He doesn’t remember the next day at school, not most of it at least. He does remember he and Monty being called heroes on morning announcements, for helping take down Evergreens own ‘El Chapo’ and then having his entire homeroom pester him for more details as he tried his best to ignore them all. Other than that, the day passes mostly in a blur. He thinks something probably comes from him missing his homework but can’t really remember and he’s never been so happy Coach has been sick and had to cancel a bonus practice cause he doesn’t have the energy to deal with it.

He and Monty meet at the Jeep after school. They don’t talk on the ride over, there still isn’t anything to say.

In fact, he doesn’t talk until they’re there and he manages to put on a smile and convince the officer at the front they want to know about their last paychecks and have to talk Nash about it.

They’re led into the holding cells and end up standing in front of one holding Nash, the cop taps the bars and announces he has visitors and the man, who had been laying out on the cot shifts. When he sees them, his face gets a strange expression and he starts saying, “Hey boys, I-”

“Why?”

He almost wished Monty wasn’t so direct so that maybe, if he used enough imagination, he could pretend that everything isn’t what it looked like.

A heavy sigh and Nash gets off the cot and comes over to the bars. “I told you boys about Mac?”

He nods. Monty doesn’t but Monty’s been around enough when Nash has told stories about the other man.

“We never had anything growing up, my dad spent the money he made on essentials and the leftovers went to the younger kids in our house, Mac’s parents spent it all on booze. Just after we graduated from high school, Mac approached me and asked if I wanted in on some business deal that he promised would make me more than a month working at the Walplex.”

There was a pause and a humourless laugh, “Turns out it was drug running, dangerous but very lucrative. I was pissed at Mac for dragging me into it, a three day affair up to the Canadian border, but when I got back and got paid-I had never seen so much money. Suddenly I could afford stuff I’d wanted for a long time but could never get. It snowballed from there, Mac kept getting offered jobs, I kept joining him, the money kept coming in. I put my cousin and both my sisters through college, helped move everyone out of the shit apartment I grew up in, all that stuff.”

“By poisoning people.” Monty’s voice is hard, with a rawness under it. It’s understandable, they trusted Nash but he was doing this and it hurts.

Nash nods, not even trying to deny it, “By hurting people, people I felt deserved to be hurt because they didn’t give a shit about me or Mac our whole lives so why should I give a shit about them. Didn’t matter that they weren’t the same people because they were cut from the same cloth.”

And it’s so wrong because Nash isn’t like that, Nash doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from, as long as you’re not causing a problem in his store you’re free to stay, especially if you’re going to buy something.

As if sensing the unasked question, Nash continues. “We lived it up for six or seven years, rolling in the dough, dating women, buying nice things, taking trips. Mac loved it, loved showing off, having something to show off that he felt was worth it, he always acted arrogant, always pretended the world around him didn’t mean anything to him, but when we were kids, it was just an act and nothing more. Now he would ride around town, with a girl or two in his car, laugh at all the people who had mocked him. He made a lot of people angry, acting how he did and one night at a bar, things got heated, there was a fist fight, the other guy got thrown out and Mac wasn’t smart enough to just let it be, he had to taunt the other guy. At closing, the other guy was waiting with a knife.”

He realizes he’s crying because even though Nash’s voice is mostly level, there’s a slight crack in it.

“And he died, like a dog in the street. No one cared enough to come mourn him but me and my brother cause I dragged him along. I stopped for a while, all the stuff that killed him, tried to do things the legal way, went back to living on breadcrumbs. Thing was, I had a taste of good living and money and eventually I got pulled back in; opened Sunrise as a front and started harboring coke on it’s way up north for a fee. And it caught up with me.” 

“What about us?” He hates the way his voice cracks as he says it.

Nash sighs and then says, “Do better than me and Mac ever did. This life- Mac didn’t live to see thirty, I’m probably looking at being fifty or older by the time I get out with the charges they have. You two, you’re better than we ever were anyway.”

Monty cuts in, his voice frustrated, “How are we supposed to do better when you were the reason we were trying so hard?”

A look of pain crosses Nash’s face before he covers it and replies, “You have each other.”

Monty counters immediately, “You had Mac.”

“You have drive.”

“I wanted-we felt safe with you.” 

Monty’s voice wavers as he says the words and Justin says, “We wanted a dad.”

Nash’s expression is shocked and pained but his voice is level as he says, “I love you boys. But you should forget me, cause I’ve failed you like the rest of them.”

The unfairness of it all leaves an ache in his heart because how is he supposed to forget Nash? This man-he gave them so much, helped them with so many things, he gave them advice, came to their games even drove Monty to the championship out all the way down by L.A., he stayed with them that one night and it was the only time the apartment felt like home since they started living there. But now he’s just supposed to forget this man who treated them so kindly when he really had no reason to? He doesn’t think he’s strong enough to do that. His cheeks are wet and he realizes that Monty’s eyes are damp.

“Hey you shouldn’t be talking to him!”

Somehow Officer Standall is there at the end of the corridor and walks towards them.

He looks at Nash, can feel Monty doing the same. Give us a reason to stay, give us a reason to fight for you.

“If I ever had sons, I would want them to be half the people you are. Be better than I ever was.”

Officer Standall ushers them out of the room and away from Nash. He barely listens as the man lectures them about Nash being dangerous and Monty finally snorts and says, “If you had a brain maybe you’d get it.”

Officer Standall freezes for a moment and Justin takes it to push Monty towards the door as he calls back, “Sorry, he didn't mean it see you around, bye bye.”

They end up driving back to the apartment and dropping the car off before heading back to the hotel. The day and night follow much the same as the last one until they get in their sleeping bags and Monty says, “I feel stupid.”

“I feel cheated.”

“I guess in some ways it explains things.”

That’s true, why they weren’t allowed upstairs, the store being closed on Sundays, Nash being so generous with things like bonuses and paid sick days and bailing Mom out of jail. Also explained his weariness of cops. “Not things I wanted explained.”

Monty murmurs his agreement.

“I wish I had never walked into Sunrise that day.”

Monty pauses and then says, “I’m glad you did.”

He shifts to look at the other boy who shrugs and says, “We made a lot of money, saved a lot money...I just wish it didn’t have to hurt so much.” He realizes a tear is sliding down Monty’s cheek and slides over to close the distance between them.

“I loved him.” And that’s the heart of the matter. It’s something Monty has never given easily, something he’s pretty sure his brother can count the people on that list on one hand and Nash-might have stopped that list from getting any longer.

“I still do.” He sort of wishes he didn’t but he does. It’s just-Nash made him feel safe and important and for a while he enjoyed-not that he ever said it to anyone though he wonders if Monty had the same daydreams, but he enjoyed pretending Nash was the father he never knew. He’d close his eyes and pretend the going into Sunrise after school was going home and Nash would be around, if not there to greet them then he’d come down at some point. He’d ask how their days went, offer advice, if not practical or what he wanted to hear than at silly and a good distraction, congratulate them on success, console them about failures. Closing time was hard sometimes, when they weren’t going out after work it usually felt like leaving the security and happiness of a place he wanted to be at for the uncertainty of someplace he should like being at but didn’t really.

He doesn’t think he can forget Nash, the man has a place in his heart that no one has ever filled before. He tosses an arm over Monty and offers the only words either of them have, “We’re still together.”

And it’s true and he can’t imagine a world without Monty but Monty-his brother is flesh and bone, easily bruised and broken. Nash seemed to be made of stronger stuff than both of them, stronger but not hard or unfeeling. Safe.

He’ll miss that.

Monty presses against him and hums. They’ve gotten through everything else and they’ll get through this. It’s just going to hurt a hell of a lot to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't say welcome because this wasn't a happy chapter, but let me explain. I needed Monty to see what a good father could be like in order for me to justify how he does so well with Justin and I wanted to give Justin a father figure he could really look up to because it makes his quest for his father all the more potent. Nash was born from that but I wanted someone to push both characters a little further hence Nash became someone both boys looked up to and thought of in some regard as a father because he was one of the few adults to truly look out for them and treat them with respect and dignity. Him being a closet drug dealer was always the plan from the beginning and besides the things the brothers point out, I left some other clues about what he was. I choose it because his story was supposed to mirror the brothers with his friend Mac and show them what they could be if they aren't careful and also to be the one thing neither brother could forgive easily because of the personal pain it's caused them. Standall was in the chapter to point out just how badly most adults misunderstand them and fail them to further remind them of what they are losing. 
> 
> I hope you aren't all mad at me after this chapter and I can promise the next chapter is some much needed breathing after the pain in this one. It features Justin being silly, Monty being a little cranky, and Scott playing along. It should be out on Friday.
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments and if you thought this might be coming at any point.


	33. Night at the Hotel (M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monty and Scott trek up to the Hobo Hotel after practice hoping to catch a nap, do homework, and go to bed. Instead, they get taken on a wild ride by the staff of a 5 Star hotel.

Monty groans as he and Scott climb the hill towards the hotel. Practice was brutal and right now he wishes the hotel was at the bottom of a hill and not the top, as Scott huffs and puffs behind him. Justin was supposed to be here already, checking on things after the storm last night.

Cresting the hill, he sees debris piled up by their hide away, he sighs wondering if the roof held. 

“Justin?”

His brother appears a moment later and he bites back a groan. The stupid grin adorning his brother’s face promises mischief. 

“Welcome Monsieurs. Would you like to book a room at our fine establishment?”

The accent is so strong and exaggerated, it sounds like a lame villain in a cartoon. He blinks and then says, “If you ever talk like that in France, they’ll be insulted.”

Justin feigns confusion and says, “I don’t know what you mean, this is my voice?”

“You sick, Justy? Sounds like your phlegmy.”

Scott, still panting, finally joins them, clearly not having heard the beginning of this ridiculous conversation.

“Who is this Justan you speak of? Je suis Louis. Now, can I get you a room?”

“Justin-”

Scott cuts Monty off with a laugh and says, “What’s the going rate?”

He just wants to crawl into a sleeping bag and take a nap, he doesn’t have time for this nonsense. Looking back at his brother he realizes the younger boy as a peel and stick name tag he must have swiped from the college fair. 'Louis' is written on it in big loopy letters, trying to look fancy but just looking more illegible than Justin's usual writing. If he wasn't so annoyed, he might be impressed at the effort. 

"We charge 7 euros for a room, dinner and amenities."

“Amenities too? Sounds like a steal. I've got seven pennies!”

Justin holds his hands out and Scott passes the money over.

“Our bellboy will take your things and show you to your room.”

For a second he panics but Justin ducks behind the makeshift desk and comes out wearing his hat backwards and a new name tag reading “Jean”. He takes their bags and brings them to the sleeping area further in. 

Setting the bags down, he waves and says, “Your room, monsieurs. I hope you find everything acceptable, if you need me for anything just call. I perform all services from unrolling sleeping bags to fluffing pillows.”

Scott has a shit eating grin on his face as he says, “Are massages included in these amenities I’ve been told about?”

He’s mildly interested in what Justin will do with this but Justin doesn’t break character once as he says, “Our masseuse is currently away but I have been trained in the Korean art of back walking and-” 

Justin’s stepping out of his sneakers as he talks and Scott must realize he’s serious and not want to actually be stepped on so he cuts off quickly, “No, no. That’s fine. I’ll live without.”

"Will there be anything else?"

"No. I think we'll lay down."

"Very good, sirs. Dinner will be served at seven."

Justin does a pretty good disappearing act like a creepy butler in some movie. He figures the younger boy is off to finish whatever he was doing before they showed up and that's fine. He kicks his sneakers off and crawls into a sleeping bag and knocks out.

When he wakes up, it's dark but the smell of a camp fire reaches him and he can hear Scott and Justin talking, Justin in a different varient of the stupid accent. He remains in the bag, warm and comfortable and unwilling to leave until he has to.

“Well chef, if you're ready to take orders, I'd like the surf and turf.”

“Oui, sir. Coming right up.”

A faint grin comes over his face but he stays in bed. He's not sure what Justin's planning but his brother definitely has a plan of some kind.

He lays for a minute longer before deciding watching Justin troll Scott is worth seeing first hand. Unzipping the sleeping bag, he pulls his sneakers back on and heads out to see Justin wearing a chef hat he must have stolen from Luke and the kitchens at school. At least it looks like Luke's, the hat is much too big, a new nametag now reads 'Henri'. Both Scott and Justin sit around a campfire, Justin managing a pan with a hot dog and a hamburger and Scott lazily twirling a pencil between his fingers instead of writing in his notebook.

When he takes a seat, Justin passes him a notebook with 'menu' written on it very fancily. There are three items listed on it but each one is messier than the next as if Justin got progressively lazier or realized he was running out of time.

He scans the options, 'sandwiche au hamburger', 'surf and turf', and 'Great Dane Dog'. 

"I'll have the great dane dog."

Without missing a beat or dropping character, 'Henri' replies, "The surf and turf has more protein."

He resists the urge to roll his eyes over Justin's never-ending quest to force protein into him, usually in some kind of fishy form. "I'll have the surf and turf, then."

"Excellent, monsieur. It will be ready soon."

Scott ends up complaining about Spanish and annoying him into helping and the next thing he knows, Justin is pulling out 2 paper plates, adding hot dog and hamburger to them and then, horrifyingly, cracking a can of tuna fish and scooping a portion onto the hamburger which he passes to Scott who is actually gross enough to eat it. He gets ready to do the same to the hotdog when Monty calls out desperately.

"I want the surf on the side!"

The spoon holding the white, fish meat thankfully passes over the burger, Justin-Henri not breaking out into laughter, what a professional, and plops the meat on the side, leaving the spoon in it. 

Monty heaves a sigh of relief, his dinner is safe, and Justin puts two packets of ketchup on the plate as well, sparking Scott to start their eternal debate about mustard verses ketchup.

Justin then pulls off the chef hat and peels off the Henri nametag to reveal a new one, 'Gaston', and offers the plates saying, "Would you like a complimentary water with your meal?”

He doesn’t wait for a reply as he passes bottles of water towards them right after they take their plates. 

Even though the fishy smell really doesn’t mix with the smell of the hotdog, he’s starving and it smells amazing. Next to him, Scott inhales his abomination with the same vigor while Justin sets about cleaning up the pan. 

Justin’s act takes a break as they start working on homework for an hour by firelight but come bedtime, Jean is back to make sure the fire is well and truly out and then guiding them back to their ‘room’ and offering to fluff pillows while pretending they weren’t just balled up sweatshirts.

Later, when they’re lying down, Scott already snoring quietly, he hears Justin’s stomach rumble and realizes he didn’t see Justin eating. Next to him, his brother stiffens but tries to pretend he’s asleep to avoid the conversation.

“You didn’t eat anything.”

There’s a moment of hesitation and then Justin replies, “You’re working tomorrow and had practice today. Bryce asked me to go to the mall with him to do some shopping so I’ll convince him to get me something while we’re there.”

A rush of guilt comes as he wonders if the whole act was a plot by Justin to distract him from the younger boy not eating, but as if hearing his worry Justin insists, “It’s fine Monty. Like I said, I’ll eat good tomorrow with Bryce.”

He isn’t happy about it, there was enough food for all three of them, even if it meant he got hungry tomorrow...in fact he will still be hungry tomorrow after working eight hours. “I wish you had eaten the tuna.”

“And miss the opportunity to get you to eat it? Never.”

He can practically hear the smile on Justin’s face and rolls his eyes. “Why do you like making me eat gross stuff?”

“Fish is good for you and I didn’t give you the real surf and turf experience so it wasn’t that gross.”

Personally, he doesn’t think that’s anything to be proud of but he allows Justin’s attempt at humor to stand as he replies, “If you ever put tuna on a hotdog, I’m disowning you.”

Justin giggles and replies, “Even if I get Scott to eat it?”

“For as much talking as he does, I’d rather you didn’t poison him. Now get some sleep, it’s late and it sounds like you have a busy day tomorrow.”

Justin stifles a yawn and replies, “I’ll try to make sure I have dinner for you when you get off.”

He hums and not much later, they’re both asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. De_La_Cruz87 and I got to talking about the boys play acting at the hobo hotel being a real hotel and this chapter was born from it. I wanted a chapter of the boys being goofy and silly and Justin seemed like a good person to initiate the silly. Scott is all to happy to play along and after a nap, Monty is less grumpy and also willing to join in. Honestly, Justin is very cartoony in this chapter, the way I was picturing him and if I wasn't keeping every other chapter grounded in reality, I might have had him actually change costumes but the best I could do was hats and name tags. Hopefully you all enjoy anyway!
> 
> Next chapter will be out in a week. I haven't decided what yet. I have a Zach chapter, one with both brothers and Jess that might raise your blood pressure a lot, and some lighter ones. I guess if you have an opinion of what you want to see, let me know in the comments below and while you're at it, let me know what you think of this chapter! Also big thanks to De_La_Cruz87 for beta reading and catching all my mistakes xD


	34. Angel on the 10 Yard Line (J, Z, M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin has a problem, Zach doesn't understand but will always help, and Monty reaps the benefits. It's funny how lives can intertwine so much.

Justin isn’t a stranger to fear or helplessness. He hates them, both of them, but they aren’t new. Before Bryce and then later Monty, Zach, and Scott, they were his constant companions. There was a period where he didn’t feel them as much, sometime between meeting Bryce and sophomore year, where between options to stay at night and Monty always looking out for him, he felt a little more secure and less afraid to exist, but that sweet spot ended after a painful reminder of how human Monty is.

Today is a unique blend of the pair because for once it isn’t related to home since Seth stormed out last night...after he put the baseball bat down. Sadly, while that problem is solved, there’s football practice today and Monty can’t afford to miss any more. Coach Kerba may not be Coach Rick, but he still takes the sport and his team seriously and Monty’s already missed too many. He spent all night awake trying to come up with a solution while Monty slept next to him, he thinks the older boy passed out from pain. He couldn’t ask Coach Kerba for help, the man would ask too many questions and Bryce was a no go too; he and Monty had been fighting a lot recently. 

It’s a tackle practice, he heard as much from Luke who was, as always, overly enthused about the prospect of it. He almost asked Luke for help just because the massive boy would do it, but the problem became that Luke… isn’t good at checking his own strength and is also built like a refrigerator and he doubts Monty could take the mammoth of a boy down in his current condition. Scott isn’t on the football team and neither is he, Monty wants him to focus on basketball and honestly… he’s not really sure he wants to play football even if it would mean more time with the guys.

He spent so long stressing out, trying to fix one of the original ideas, that when the solution dawned on him early in the morning before the sun was up, he felt like an idiot.

“Hey Zach.”

The Asian boy looks up from his work and smiles. “Hey, how are you?”

He smiles and offers a shrug, “Hanging in. That test from Withers was brutal.”

An eye roll. “I spent three days in tutoring and only managed to scrape by.”

“Three days studying or three days watching the cute tutor?”

Zach blushes a little and mumbles something that sounds like, “A bit of both.”

“Well when you’re ready for some more useful tutoring let me know.”

Zach rolls his eyes but laughs and says, “Sure Justin.”

“Oh hey, I got you something.” He drops the package of Hot Tamales on the table and pushes them across to Zach who looks at them and then back at him, an amused look on his face.

“You know you don’t have to bribe me to do a favor, right?”

He blushes faintly and almost replies this isn’t a bribe but that isn’t true, he used the last dollar in his wallet to get it from a vending machine just to make sure this would work.

“You haven’t heard what it is yet.”

“So tell me.”

“I need you to partner with Monty during practice today; and go easy on him.”

Zach frowns. “That’s going to be hard. I’m not sur-”

“Please?” His heart freezes at the thought of this not working. Ramon is Monty’s usual partner and there’s no way he’s going to get Mr. Testosterone to lay off or pull his punches… tackles. Zach is the only person who can help him here and if he can’t-Justin doesn’t want to know what Monty will be like after an hour long practice.

“I’ll try. Maybe if I come up with a good excuse Kerba will go for it.”

He feels a tension leaving his body. If Zach says he’ll try, the other boy won’t let him down. 

“Is everything alright?” He realizes Zach’s studying him with large, dark eyes; warm but worried. He has a feeling that even though the bruise on his cheek is covered with concealer, Zach can see the limp in his step.

“Yea, things are fine.” Not a lie, Seth is gone at least. Mom will torture them for a week or two about it but the main problem is gone and things can start getting back to where they should be.

Zach still looks sad as he says, “Alright then. I’ll talk to you later; bells about to ring.” The other boy collects his books and they’re off to their separate classes.

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Zach gets to practice early, he had to ask Mr. Alvis to go early and make up something about needing to help Coach get stuff ready but the man thankfully let him get away with it. He questions why he’s even doing this but he already knows the answer; there isn’t much he can refuse Justin, even when the other boy doesn’t give him much information. It stings a little because Justin is like the brother he wishes he had and even though he doesn’t doubt Justin cares about him, he figures he’s about fourth after Bryce, Monty, and Jess. It sucks but it’s not like he can make Justin like the others less. It does mean he occasionally gets saddled with almost impossible tasks like these and has to figure out how to do what he said he’d do.

Coach Kerba is waiting in the locker room as usual, looking over his clipboard and notes in preparation and he looks up surprised when he sees Zach come in five minutes before the bell rings.

“Hello Zach. Early aren’t you?”

“Hey Coach. I had a favor to ask you and wanted to get it to you early enough so you could plan for it.”

The man raises an eyebrow and makes a gesture to go ahead.

“I was hoping you could pair Monty and I up for practice today.”

“You do know it’s tackle practice today?”

He nods and thinks quick before adding on, “Monty wanted more practice tackling taller targets.”

“So this is a favor for Monty then? I can pair him up with Luke and he can practice with taller and bigger.” 

Damn, Coach sounds suspicious now. He feels some sweat collect under his hairline. That isn’t good. And Luke getting involved isn’t good either, he isn’t good at holding back at all.

“I already told him I’d help him.” Coach opens his mouth to say something but Zach keeps going, “And you always say our word is the most important thing we have and we should keep our promises.”

Coach doesn’t look especially pleased at having his words tossed back at him but he nods and says, “Alright. I can’t argue with that. Hurry up and get changed; you can help me set up.”

Thirty minutes later, the team is warmed up out on the field and Kerba is announcing the start of tackle drills. 

Zach tries to find Monty earlier before practice but never manages to and once practice starts, it was a no go. Now he gets his opportunity and...well Monty looks normal. Blank expression, tension in his shoulders, and projecting an air of ‘don’t fuck with me’.

He still-he knows there’s a softer side, he’s seen the way Monty will hug Justin back when Justin initiates, it’s not fake emotions. And yet unless it’s Justin, the wall is too thick to get through. Since their conversation Monty has made an effort to be more friendly; greets him in the halls with a nod and sits next to him for bus rides to games. It’s less cold but not particularly more welcoming. All of Zach’s attempts to be more friendly end awkwardly. 

Monty moves and things suddenly make a little more sense. It isn’t exactly pained… but it’s unnatural, like Monty is compensating for something no one else can see. He kind of wishes he had been in the locker room to get a glimpse of what he’s dealing with but he didn’t so now he has to rely on guesswork.

They move down to the ten yard line, as far from Coach as they can reasonably get. Monty’s face is still blank but the tension seems greater now. Zach glances over Monty’s shoulder and finds Justin waiting in the bleachers. It’s too far to tell but he has a feeling the other boy looks worried.

The first time they square off for the exercize, he's on the offense. He takes Monty down and tries to be careful about it but a soft hiss lets him know he must have hurt something, not that Monty gives any other indication. Defense is easier, he lets Monty take him down cleanly and trusts that as long as he doesn't fight, Monty can do it without hurting whatever is hurt. 

The assumption is mostly right… he suspects maybe Monty needs to figure it out a little himself because he thinks, when they stand up, Monty cradles his arm just slightly.

The rest of the practice follows much the same. He thinks Monty gets the hang of tackling carefully quicker than he does but at a certain point he manages to at least keep the other boy from grunting or hissing which he assumes means something. He tries to slow it down too, the number of times they run the drill, figuring less is better.

Sadly, that eventually catches Kerba's eye and Zach sees the man walk towards them while Monty is still sitting on the ground after a tackle. 

Thinking quick he talks loudly, so Coach can hear, but Monty looks at him with a raised eyebrow in response, his back to the approaching man. "And that's all there is to it. You have to use their momentum against them, especially the really big ones. If you can't do that then you'll probably have to take a dive at their legs and hope to trip them but that's not- Oh hi Coach."

Monty's eyes go wide for a moment as he hauls himself up, there's a favoring of his left leg that Zach sees now, forty minutes later.

"Boys. How is it going?" There's a certain searching quality to the man's expression that makes Zach squirm slightly. He's never been able to shake the feeling that some people see right through you and his Mom may be at the top of that list, but Coach Kerba isn't that far down.

"Good. I think we're making progress." 

Monty nods along with the assessment, his face back it's usual neutral, like he wants to draw as little attention to himself as possible and let Zach do all the talking.

Kerba looks over at Monty anyway. "Are you feeling like you're getting something out of this practice against larger opponents?"

Without missing a beat, Monty nods.

"Good. I'm a little surprised you asked Zach for help and not Luke."

"I mentioned it when Zach was around and Luke wasn't."

Kerba nods and glances at his watch before saying, "We'll if you are looking to put this practice to good use I could always rotate partners for the last ten minutes."

Zach glances across the field in time to see Luke attempt to bury Bryce in the forty yard line. He cringes ever so slightly.

"I'm learning a lot here so I think I'll stay." Monty sounds totally natural and Kerba nods before turning to help another group. 

"So when did I say I needed practice on larger people?"

Monty's voice is… a shade off its normal monotone. Justin would be able to say for certain exactly the tone even though to Zach, happy sounds the same as angry and so on. Right now he thinks it's calm but he's not sure if it's real or the fake calm right before Monty decks someone for pissing him off.

Swallowing hard he replies, "Just before homeroom."

Monty looks out at the bleachers and rolls his eyes. "Was I wearing a varsity jacket and have my hair gelled?"

"Probably."

"Thanks."

"Yea, any time."

For a moment he feels like he's made a breakthrough. Monty smiles back, a rarity, and they set to resume when shouting draws their attention. 

Bryce has torn his helmet off, his white uniform smeared with green and brown streaks, and is yelling at Luke, who looks confused. The conversation is mostly unintelligible with Bryce complaining about how hard Luke keeps slamming him and Luke replying he's practicing, obviously not understanding why Bryce is making a big deal.

He finds it kind of funny. Bryce is used to not getting sacked, he hasn't been tackled in a few games and it must be going to his head. A glance sideways though reveals Monty back to stone faced. He tries not to be annoyed, both at Bryce for playing the wrong sport and maybe a little at Monty for not being able to enjoy some prime comedy. Justin is the same way, no matter how funny it is, neither can enjoy it.

Shaking his head, he and Monty resume their drills but the glimmer of openness in Monty is gone. Kerba leaves them to sort out the mess and Zach can't help the disappointed feeling; that he's missed an opportunity he may not get again for a while.

He tries to catch Monty after practice and see if there's any difference but he’s already gone. He has no doubt that tomorrow Justin will thank him and that the other boy will leave him with a stupid smile on his face and the feeling he's special and important but right now he sort of feels used.

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Monty hauls himself into bed later that night. His body aches all over, not Zach’s fault, you can’t really tackle gently, though the other boy gave it a good try. 

Justin follows a moment later when he comes back from brushing his teeth and Monty waits for him to settle down before saying, “So Zach was my partner for practice today.”

“Really? Thought you were stuck with Ramon.”

There’s a tone to Justin’s voice that tells Monty all he needs to know.

“Thanks. Whatever you did.” And he means it, Justin’s ability to solve problems he can’t is incredible, even if they usually involve his brother meddling. Without Justin, he would have suffered through practice and probably hated every second and possibly ended up with a deep, probing, and uncomfortable conversation with Coach at the end.

It’s funny, when he and Justin first started working together, he found the other boy’s methods annoying. They relied on other people too much, a variable Monty has always hated and never trusted. He saw the methods as weak and unreliable, but Justin has convinced him otherwise. Now, having seen Justin in action, he realizes that even if they aren’t perfect, they work and they work in situations his methods can’t.

He’s left with a warm, funny feeling, thinking about these things. Justin has a lot of influence with people but he usually chooses not to use it, Bryce gives him a good reason not to. For Justin to be willing to use it, even if asking Zach to help isn’t a great feat, feels good.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out of practice completely.”

“You did good.” It was already more than he had expected.

Justin seems unconvinced but he tosses an arm over the other boy and mumbles, “I mean it, not getting buried in the ground by Luke or Ramon feels pretty good. Thank you.”

The younger boy perks up after that and he thinks it’s well worth it, even if Bryce is going to make this a problem later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to a new chapter. I figured I'd post this one cause I have chapter that references this scene written and wanted you guys to have already seen it before that chapter comes out. Other than that, reason, I missed writing Zach and this was a good excuse to bring him back for a while. I also have a chapter written fully from his POV that's around to be posted at some point too.
> 
> I'm talking to my beta writer to try to plan out a posting schedule for the next few chapters. I think the next one will be relatively unpleasant and Nora is due for a chapter one of these days too so I'll have to plan which one of hers I want.
> 
> I hope you enjoy and met me know what you think in the comments! As always, a big thanks to my beta reader, De_La_Cruz87 for all of her help in this!


	35. Shoebox of Dreams (J, M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryce is his best friend, Jess is the best thing that's ever happened to him. Justin tries to balance both of them along with the rest of his life but like everything else in his life, he fails. Monty's trying to be a good brother and support Justin and set a good example but sometimes punching people would feel really good.

Justin talks quick, an idea in his head that he hopes will bring together what Jess wants and what Bryce wants, but even as he says it, he knows the plan won't work. It's too little, too late, the story of his life it feels like. Without work at Sunrise it seems like he should have more time to do everything he needs to but it actually feels like less. Managing school, homework, practice, the extra practices, and spending time with the guys, and Jess, and Monty seems almost impossible and it’s all catching up to him now. His brain is almost too tired to figure all of this out.

"We could hang out tonight and get burgers at Rosie's and then head on over to Bryce's for the party! It'll be great, just the two of us," he glances over at Bryce and continues, "and then we can hang out at the party and-"

Angry voices mix together and he feels his heart sink.

"So she gets alone time with you but I only get you when I host a party? Some best friend you are!"

"We've been planning this date for days and suddenly you're changing plans for a party? This is bullshit Justin! Pick one. Him or me!"

"Well if that's how you want it, tell her Justin. Bros before-well you know."

He's tongue tied. He can't make words come out. How is he supposed to choose between Jess and Bryce? His best friend and the most incredible girl he's ever met and he's been so lucky to have them and Monty for so long...he should have known holding onto all of it forever would be impossible but he just hoped maybe he could get a little longer.

But no. This has been building for a long time, he’s just been trying to ignore it rather than deal with it. Bryce and Jess both want more of his time and he-well he’s trying but it’s so hard to balance everything and he knows he isn’t doing it right. 

"Justin!"

His eyes focus on Jess. She looks furious, cheeks flushed, brow furrowed, chest heaving, her voice is cold as ice which contrasts with Bryce’s which is pleading and desperate. 

"C’mon Justy, it’s me."

Apparently done with waiting for the reply he doesn’t even have Jess says, "Fine, be like that! Go to Bryce’s party but you’re going alone." She slips off the bracelet he gave her, rainbow beads on an elastic band, and throws it on the ground before turning around and storming out. 

He tries to pretend watching her go doesn’t at the same time feel like the most painful thing in his life and also be so expected. He stoops down to pick up the bracelet and tries to stop feeling anything, he could use some weed right now, because the emotions hurt so badly, total numbness is preferable. He hasn’t wanted weed or a beer so much in months since he and Monty gave all that shit up. Now nothing sounds better than getting high and slowly drifting up into the clouds and not worrying about what’s happening on the ground.

Somehow when he pictured this day it was always raining and cold, not sunny and bright. It feels all the more mocking. 

Next to him Bryce snorts. "What a bitch. Good for you Justy, I never liked her anyway and going stag for a while will be good for you. Besides, it means you have no obstacles to keep you away tomorrow night, we can even break your brother’s stupid rules and get wasted."

"Yea." He tries to sound enthusiastic but it’s hard when he feels like part of him is broken.

A shove on his shoulder almost sends him to the ground. "You’ll get over it, just try to leave this expression you’re wearing now at home tomorrow, you know I hate sad faces at my parties."

And then Bryce leaves. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt so lonely in his life. He slips the bracelet into his pocket and watches the door Jess went through wondering if the pain would go away on its own cause it doesn’t seem that way.

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Monty lies ramrod straight in bed desperately wishing he could do anything to comfort Justin. In a sick way he’s almost proud because Justin hasn’t cried even though he thinks that's what the boy wants to do. Instead, he’s taken shaky breaths that hitch and stared into the void. Practice didn’t seem to perk him up at all, and even worse, doesn’t seem to have drained him of enough energy because it’s been an hour since they laid down and his brother is still awake. Food didn’t work either, not that it was great food but Justin is normally cheered up by anything. His head wasn’t in the right space to do homework so even a boring distraction was out of the question.

The absolute worst is that this isn’t even surprising, Bryce has been aiming for this for weeks, increasingly trying to eat up Justin’s time to keep him away from Jess and always trying to butt in on their time together. 

He managed to derail it a little in the beginning, sending Jeff to distract Bryce at a party, giving Justin his last five dollars to take Jess out on what might have been the cheapest date in history. Little things that delayed what he couldn’t stop.

The problem with all of his attempts were Bryce finding out and getting revenge on them. It was well worth it, all the way up until last week when Bryce got rid of the hotel, even if that was more than just the Jess thing, and they stopped being able to camp out. Three nights after they had had to leave the apartment and sleep in the park and the next night it rained so they couldn’t even do that and it had been-well bad seems like an understatement. He doesn’t want to say he gave up trying, but at a certain point, the creativity needed to outsmart Bryce was just too much to keep up with and Jess isn’t exactly patient. In the end he wishes he could have made it last longer because Bryce winning always rubs him the wrong way and this was just petty and cruel, not that it’s surprising from Bryce.

"I think I loved her." Justin’s quiet murmur breaks through the gloom.

"I know you did."

"She’s the only girl I’ve ever dated that I never wanted to walk away at the end of night. Before I enjoyed dates but dropping the girl back at home always felt like a job well done but with Jess it always seemed too final."

He thinks back, way back to a conversation he had with Scott, about love and it not always being for forever. It’s funny, when he saw Jess and Justin together he could almost believe in the Disney bullshit about the power of love. He could see them being together through high school and college and maybe even marrying someday, having kids, raising a family. Not that he knew Jess’s thoughts on anything, and not that Justin ever mentioned anything to him but in everything Justin did it screamed that the way he felt about Jess was different. 

He hurts thinking about it, he can’t imagine how Justin feels. He wants so badly to reassure Justin that it’s okay, that everything will be fine and that Jess will come around but he can’t do that because Justin will believe him, completely and totally, and if Jess doesn’t than he’ll have to add his name to the list of people who’ve hurt Justin in this mess.

So he doesn’t and instead, he presses his lips to the top of Justin’s head and tucks it under his chin. 

It takes another hour for Justin to nod off but he stays up, thinking of how he can fix this and eventually settles on a plan. It isn't great, but it's something and if it works it may fix everything. The irony isn’t lost on him that he didn’t believe in love for a long time and here he is making plans to try to save it. If the situation wasn't so unfair, it might be comical.

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Justin sticks close to the guys most of the day. It hurts because the minutes he would usually spend with Jess are painfully empty, even the short ones between classes when he would walk her from one to another. He tries to put on a smile but gives up by third period, even though Bryce pesters him about it. The older boy doesn't see him a lot throughout the day so it works out okay. He'll have to try to smile at the party tonight anyway otherwise Bryce'll be unhappy.

He thinks he could have managed to get through the day if not for the four little minutes between sixth and seventh when he's walking to class, Ramon and Monty with him, Monty has been the only relief in the last day, when they stop short in the hall.

Jess is standing with Alex Standall, face to face, their eyes meet over the top of Alex’s head but Jess looks away, down at Alex and she leans in to kiss him.

He’s not sure it even hurts to watch, mostly he just feels sad. Maybe it does ache a little but nothing like the crushing pain from yesterday. That might be because of just how drained he feels. Last night he thinks he slept but not well and he woke up feeling as tired as when he went to bed. It’s probably dulling the pain too.

Monty nudges him into moving and eventually he plops down in class, the last few steps to the desk feel like a marathon and when he slumps into his desk he can’t imagine how he’s going to get up in forty minutes and switch classes.

It only gets worse when his phone starts blowing up and he pulls it out of his pocket, intent on putting it on mute but all five messages are from the group chat he’s in with Bryce, Monty, Zach, and most of the baseball, football, and basketball teams and one of them is directed at him. He flicks it open and wishes he hadn’t.

A photo of Jess and Alex making out and then under it Ramon saying something about wasting Standall but it’s Bryce’s message under it that catches his eye.

**Lol, looks like ur officially a cuck @Justy**

**dont worry, well get her back**

With a groan he flicks it to mute and tries to figure out how he’s going to deal with this. Bryce is creative at getting revenge and he doesn’t want to participate but he also doesn’t really want it to even happen. As much as everything hurt last night-the idea of trying to hurt Jess back is sickening, and getting revenge on Alex wouldn’t be revenge at all, Jess picked him, not his fault.

Sleep sounds really nice right now, close his eyes and hope everything is better when he opens them again. If he hadn’t already been disappointed this morning waking up and finding this wasn’t all a dream, he’d hope for that.

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It takes until Jess drops her bag and moves towards her bed for her to notice him and when she does, she predictably gasps and demands, "Monty what are you doing in my room. How did you even get in here?"

"I rang the bell and talked to your mom. She’s very nice once I told her we had a project to work on. She let me come up here to wait for you even though she had to leave the house for some errands."

He can see her silently fuming as she replies, "We don’t have a project."

He gestures to a shoe box he has on the desk and says, "I showed these, she was interested to know personal finances seemed to be more serious than when she took it."

Jess huffs and crosses the room to flip the box open. Receipts, hundreds of them, and scraps of paper with money amounts scribbled down. "What is this?" She demands after looking through a few things.

"My debt. Justin’s too."

"Listen if you came all the way here to plead Justin’s case it’s too-"

"Everything in there represents money Justin and I owe Bryce. Food, bills, sports equipment," he reaches into his bag and pulls out a second which he sets down next to it, "all together I figure somewhere between eight and nine thousand dollars." There’s also several hospital bills, including that big one from the time they had to pick which parent to bail out and deal with the other being angry. He leaves all of those out. He didn’t trust Jess when she and Justin were going out, he trusts her less now that they aren’t.

"And what, this is supposed to make me feel guilty? Listen Justin made his choice, he picked Bryce-"

"You made the choice. You yelled at Justin and stormed out. And Bryce is the winner since this is what he wanted."

"I win. Justin was going to pick Bryce, I just got ahead of him."

"And making out with Alex in the hall when he passed was just accidental?"

Her cheeks flush and he’s oddly pleased that she at least shows some reaction when being called out for doing something so shitty. He thinks he saw part of Justin die when his brother watched the pair making out and he’s not sure he’ll ever forgive Jess as long as she lives for doing that to him, no matter what Justin does.

"It’s none of your business. You don’t know how it feels to play second fiddle to Bryce all the time."

He snorts. "Justin was my brother before he was your boyfriend and he was friends with Bryce before either of us."

Clearly she doesn't have an answer to that because she points at the boxes and asks, "Why do you even have this?"

"To pay it back."

It sounds stupid and it probably is, but one day he wants to be able to pay it all back. Not out of gratitude but to get rid of it. It’s a silly dream that usually feels more like cinder blocks hanging around his neck, but someday he’d like to be able to mail a check to Bryce and officially pay back as much of the monetary debt as possible. He can see it, can almost feel the lightness of doing so. He’s laid awake at night dreaming of the freedom it’ll bring. There won’t be a note or anything, there won’t need to be. The check with his name signed on it will say it all. That they don’t need Bryce and that he doesn’t have any power over them.

And yet the only hold up, besides the lack of money of course, is exactly the reason why he has this plan in the first place: Justin. He hasn’t figured out how all of this happens without Justin being forced to choose between him and Bryce, choose him, and not be broken. As much as he wants to be rid of Bryce, he thinks Justin’s happiness might be too high a cost and yet Bryce’s tormenting of the younger boy is why he’s so determined to do this, to get Justin away from Bryce. It’s a catch twenty two because as impossible as the money seems, getting it seems so much easier than changing Justin’s heart.

She snorts. "How are you going to make several thousand dollars and why would Bryce even want the money back, if you took that much from him obviously he has enough to spare."

He decides to let her wording go and says only, "I’ll let you know when I figure out."

"Well if that’s all you came here for, you know can find your way out since you found your way in."

He puts one box back in his backpack and tucks the other under his arm. "Justin loves you like he’s loved no other girl. I can’t make you return it any more than I can make him stop loving you. If you don’t want him, fine. But don’t go trying to hurt him."

"Or what?" 

She demands an answer, voice hot and fiery and rising to the bait and making a threat would be really easy because he is angry with her but instead he replies, "Or nothing. But you’ll have to live with yourself."

Leaving her sputtering angry in her room does have a certain satisfaction, not as physical as the breaking of a nose but it's its own kind. It would be a fun challenge to Jess’s own ideas. She always complains about antiquated rules about the sexes but he doubts very much she’s looking to get rid of the ‘no hitting ladies’ one. Still punching Jess might make Justin hate him and he isn’t about to do that.

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Jess comes up to him at his locker on Monday. He hasn’t seen or heard from her all weekend and it was so hard reminding himself that there isn’t a reason he should. They aren’t together anymore, he has no reason to expect she’ll reach out to him with the latest dumb thing her brother has done or send him a meme she thought was funny.

He waits, not sure what she wants and not trusting himself to say anything without embarrassing himself.

"I’m sorry-I the thing I did with Alex was shitty and-I was frustrated and I shouldn’t have done it either of you."

"Okay." His heart is pounding. He can hardly hear her over the blood roaring in his ears.

She sighs. "Stop giving me those puppy eyes, they don’t work on me. I’m apologizing for a shitty thing I did but I’m serious about staying broken up. If I’m with someone I don’t want to be second to someone else and I-it’s not easy with you and Bryce, and you’re working hard for your scholarship for basketball and maybe now isn’t the time for us. I want to be happy with my boyfriend."

And just like that his heart breaks a second time. Especially the subtext. That she wasn’t happy with him. It kills him to think she wasn’t, not when he was living the dream, even if the past few months it became a balancing act he wasn’t really ready for. The bracelet in his pocket feels like it weighs a thousand pounds, he was stupid to carry it around.

She waits for a second and he thinks maybe she’s looking for a reply but he doesn’t really have anything to say. He’s not okay, but he can’t make her be with him and be happy in their relationship and if she can’t be happy, it’s not the relationship he wants either. 

Finally she says, "I’ll see you around then."

"Yea, I’ll see you." 

And that’ll be the hard part, seeing her in the halls and cafeteria and at games and knowing he can’t just go and talk to her. He skips next period and heads out to the bleachers. Monty won’t be happy with him but he-for a second he almost heard her saying they should get back together and then she didn’t.

He’s sitting out there later when Monty comes by. His brother doesn’t say anything, just sits next to him and puts an arm around his shoulders. He ends up leaning on Monty, too drained to talk and willing himself not to feel anything. It’s stupid. Ten years down the line he may not even remember Jess but right now that thought is more painful than not being with her. Even if he moves on-the emptiness-who ever decided love should be able to hurt this much?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I want to say I like the idea of Jess as a character but post s2 I kind of hate everything the show does with her, especially her romantic plots. The way they tried to convince the viewers that Justin and Jess were made for each other and that's why they always ended up dating, even when Jess was in a relationship annoyed me because it was obvious Justin loved her a whole lot more than she loved him but he would always wait for her. It's an extra level of gross because as much as Jess complained about jocks using girls for fun, she did the same with Justin when she was dating Alex in s3 and then again when she was dating Diego in s4. I figured she also isn't the type to understand that Justin's life is a mess that he ahs to constantly balance and not be happy with what she perceives as Justin picking Bryce over her while Bryce is just a creep who hates sharing 'what's his' and would use Jess's feelings to break her and Justin up. The result of all of this is the chapter you just read. Jess's plot line in this story isn't over but it is broken down into 2 more chapters as of right now.
> 
> Next chapter should be out in a week and you all are in for a treat; a literal Karen, as in Karen Dempsey as seen through the eyes of a very sassy and very done Nora Walker.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments about Jess and Justin's relationship cause I'm curious to hear other opinions and if you're excited for another Nora chapter!


	36. Wine Drunk (N)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karen Dempsey is loathsome company but sometimes even she can, unintentionally, give food for thought.

Reaching the conclusion that sipping wine with Karen Dempsey isn't the worst part of her night almost causes Nora to spit some of the wine back out. If it weren't for George Dempsey being both very important and also a delightful party guest, Nora doubts Karen would be here and there is some satisfaction in Barry's plan being foiled. Poor George is home sick but Karen is still here even though Barry despises the woman. 

Still, the satisfaction isn't enough to keep Nora from the sad conclusion that, even though the woman is all but insufferable, this is the best Nora's night will get. At least it gives her a distraction from her charming husband walking around with a woman on each arm like he's a bachelor twenty or thirty years younger. The gossip from the other woman is meaningless. Karen is petty at the best of times and a braggart at the worst of times, but it's better than fantasizing about how lovely a deep purple stain would look on Barry's suit. At least she keeps telling herself that. She'd hate to stoop to Barry's level, or Karen's.

So far the woman has covered tasteless dresses at the party which while overly harsh, isn't exactly untrue. From there she moved into May's ballet recitals and violin lessons. Apparently L.A. symphony is missing out on the first chair violin of the century, and at only twelve. It will be hard to tell who will lose out more, them or L.A. ballet house depending on what Karen decides May should do with her life. After that it moved to the carelessness of the catering staff and their inability to properly space appetizers from dinner. Nora doesn't bother to mention that the staff is following the timetable provided to them by Barry's secretary and if Karen is bothered that she's doing most of the talking… who is Nora kidding; the other woman isn’t bothered in the slightest as long as Nora reacts with the proper amount of scandal or awe to the gossip or bragging.

Next on the list is George and Nora wonders what it would be like to have a husband like him. George is gentle, kind, respectable, and amiable. And faithful… she wonders what it says about her that she can't keep Barry faithful even though _Karen_ can keep her husband so. She would like to chalk it up to differences between George and Barry and yet she can't help but compare herself to Karen and being frustrated that she comes off as lesser in the only areas she cares about. To Karen's credit though, she doesn't overtly mention Barry's infidelity, but she does look over at him a few times and then back at Nora. For a woman who usually goes all or nothing at subtlety… and usually the nothing, Nora appreciates the attempt.

Not missing a beat, Karen’s next unfortunate victim of ridicule is Stacy, a mother on the PTA with Karen whose husband is well connected. Nora bets if she had a look at the guest list today, Stacy’s name would have been on it and she’s sure if she kept an eye out she’d be able to find the woman lingering around. Unfortunately for Stacy, she is permanently on Karen’s gossip list because of an incident several years ago that Karen has told her about a dozen times but Nora still can’t remember. Nora nods and hums appropriately when she needs to.

And then mid complaint, Karen stops dead and makes a sound of disgust. Nora would be impressed, she sounds even more affronted than she did when she thought the catering staff wasn’t timing things right.

“Honestly Nora, those _boys_ don’t belong here.”

Boys might as well have been dogs or something worse and she follows the woman’s icy gaze to Justin and Monty, standing by the food. A faint smile touches her face as Justin throws his head back and laughs at whatever Monty says, the other boy suspiciously investigating something on his plate.

“And the way he’s looking at the food. The Venetian has the best eggplant rollatini in the city and it’s staff is second to none, much better than whatever he’s going to get. Why do you tolerate them coming?”

Nora decides not to point out that this is the same staff Karen was just disparaging and responds mildly, “I’m sure Bryce invited them and I don’t have a problem with that. If Barry wants to make his presence at these mandatory, he should have company within the same decade of his age.”

The wrong answer, not that she said it to be right. Karen huffs, “Well there are many more appropriate companions for a boy like Bryce than those two and you would do well to keep him from falling in too deeply with the wrong type.”

She’s thankful now that she’s been nursing the same glass of wine for almost an hour because if she had consumed more she might not be able to check her tongue. Instead she offers a polite smile and replies, “I understand Zachary is very close with Justin.” Taking a sip of wine is the only way to hide her smile at Karen’s blush.

“It is an unhealthy relationship and I do not approve of it. George however is dead set on letting Zachary make his own decisions, as if a teenager can be trusted. I only hope he learns his lesson by the time May is at that age.”

Nora blinks and wonders if it’s more horrifying that Karen is apparently accepting what she perceives as her son ruining his life for the sake of her husband learning for her daughter, or that Karen is so against what might be the healthiest relationship in her son’s life. Zach is a sweet boy but with someone as overbearing as Karen, it’s not really a surprise he lacks confidence. Justin at least brings him out of his comfort zone in as safe a way as one teenage boy can do it for another.

A look crosses Karen’s face as she says, “Next time you should encourage Bryce to invite Zachary. They are much more suitable company for each other.”

Nora hums. She has a feeling even if she could get Bryce to do so, she would have three teenage guests instead of two and Karen would be immensely displeased. Besides, what Karen doesn’t know is that Bryce doesn’t invite friends for company, if he did he might pick other friends, or bring a lady friend; no he chooses who he invites specifically to cause these kinds of conversations. If Nora cared, she would be annoyed that he was intentionally trying to cause problems, but Monty and Justin have almost always behaved themselves with more decorum than some other guests and she can’t deny she likes Barry’s life being made harder. 

Besides, Justin has been a fixture in her life for the better part of a decade and has given her no indication that he will cause the kind of apocalypse in Bryce’s life that Karen believes is in store for Zach via his friendship with Justin. If anything the boy is a good influence on Bryce and he needs as many of those as he can get. Monty is newer but she shares a similar feeling, at least he is willing to call her son out sometimes and a check to his ego is certainly a healthy thing.

Another disgusted noise followed by, "Honestly, you'd think no one fed them at home."

Nora looks back over at the boys and their plates are rather full, with seconds sure to follow, but at least they are both sober and more than capable of keeping their food off the floor which is more than can be said for a lot of guests. 

"Maybe they don't get fed at home." Nora has always privately suspected Justin didn't and she told Marisa to give him any food he asks for back when Justin and Bryce were new friends. She wasn't sure about Monty in the beginning, unsurprisingly, but given his relationship with Justin, she concluded that anything they had, they would share.

"Then it's their parents responsibility. Nora, we donate to charity, our money and our time. It's not our responsibility to donate our houses and lives as well. Especially not to their kind." 

"Their kind?" She tries to play it innocent. As much as she finds herself disgusted with the conversation, it's far more interesting than listening to a long winded explanation of Zach's future as a marine biologist, lawyer, or doctor.

“-TT- You know." She lowers her voice as if this is somehow worse than anything else she's said. "Criminals." 

Not rolling her eyes may be the biggest accomplishment of the night.

Karen of course continues after a long gulp of wine to wet her throat, doing all the talking must be hard. "We already do so much, planning the Police Banquet, I have my PTA functions and you donate to the animal shelter and several cancer funds. We aren't and shouldn't be responsible for people who will grow up to be in and out of prisons and drain on society.”

Across the room, Monty throws his head back and laughs at something Justin said, prompting Justin to do the same. The pictures of future criminals, she can see the mugshots already.

Deciding to change the topic before she says anything to incur the ire of the other woman, and enter into a lifetime feud with her long after Nora has forgotten this conversation, she says, “And how about you Karen? How are you?”

The other woman, having deemed her opinion suitably expressed, launches into talking about Zach and everything he is accomplishing. 

Nora listens for a while before cutting in to say, “I’m happy Zach is doing so well but how are you?”

Karen looks at her oddly and replies, “I was telling you about me.” The woman then continues talking about Zach.

Thirty minutes later, someone passes and Karen excuses herself to talk to the woman about something PTA related. Nora heaves a sigh of relief at being relieved of Karen duty. At the same time, she feels an ache in her chest. Karen talked for almost two hours but said almost nothing about herself except for going over some business with the Police Gala. She wonders if someone asked her the same thing what she would say. Suddenly life seems rather pointless and it feels like she has accomplished nothing. She can’t even brag about her family like Karen can, has no job, in her opinion bragging about charity is worse than not doing charity.

For a moment, she wonders what it would be like to have something she was proud of, something she worked for and succeeded at. Not bought or made easier by her money and not something Barry or Bryce were connected with or could claim credit for.

She shakes the feeling away. Book club would have to do and be satisfying. Dreaming any higher would just make coming back down to earth more painful, better to stay on the ground where she can’t fall. 

The rest of the party passes dismally. Barry continues to flaunt his infidelity and she comes to the conclusion that there are very few people here she knows or likes, to the point where even Karen doesn’t seem like bad company. Bryce parades Justin and Monty around long enough to offend some of the guests who demand they be removed and a rumor circulates that they’re purse snatchers. Eventually Barry gets tired of the unwelcome guests and banishes them. Karen happens to be standing near her and nods sagely but also reproves Barry for not taking such measures sooner. Nora thinks it’s a shame, sending the brothers home with food means less goes to waste even though Barry complains about it. 

The bed feels colder than usual later that night. Barry, ever the gentleman, volunteered to give a guest a ride home and probably found a reason to stay. She isn’t bitter, just lonely and tired. Her mind keeps going back, unbidden to the question she asked Karen and how she herself can’t answer it but wishes she could. Maybe someday, but with every one that passes, there are less somedays to be had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by Nora being sassy and done with the elite of Evergreen County. I had realized that my library of Nora chapters was greatly diminished and needed to be built back up and De_La_Cruz87 gave me the wonderful idea of using Karen Dempsey as a foil to Nora. I might have enjoyed writing this and another scene way too much, but Karen is so ridiculous that with a little wine I think I can justify most of the crap that comes out of her mouth.
> 
> Next week is back to silly and heartwarming... hopefully... with scenes between Scott and Justin, and Monty and Zach.
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed this exploration into Karen's thinking as filtered through Nora's sass. I really want to know what you think in the comments and hopefully you enjoyed because there is another chapter similar to this set later in the story. As always, De_La_Cruz87 is wonderful both as a friend and a beta reader and you should check her stuff out!


	37. Learning the Game and Best Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collection of 3 short pieces, 2 sharing a similar theme and the other was just written along side them.

Learning the Game

Monty slips into the gym and climbs up the bleachers. Below him, sneakers squeak on the wooden floors and basketballs bounce across the floor. He can pick out Justin pretty easily, weaving in and out of the melee despite him being at least six inches shorter than the next shortest player and probably weighing half as much but luckily Justin doesn’t see him and keeps on playing. 

Basketball has never been his sport, he’s never been particularly interested in it to begin with and the high number of black players in the NBA tends to make watching it at home unpleasant if not dangerous depending on how much the old bastard is drinking. Now he needs to play catch up. No matter how many of Justin’s games he goes to he barely understands, even with Jeff trying to explain it to him over the noise.

Justin mentioned this morning it was a long practice, Coach Patrick wanted to make sure they were ready for a game they have coming up against some big shot school, so he gets as comfortable as he can on the bleachers and does his best to study the game. He still doesn’t get it, not on a deeper level at least. Put ball in basket is as far as he gets, nothing about technique or form or anything. Well, be tall, maybe but Justin clearly proves that’s optional. 

He concludes about twenty minutes in that research will be necessary, probably a lot. Or maybe a game where he watches everyone and actually learns instead of only paying attention to Justin...that might be a good place to start too. Not as interesting though, he’d rather keep track of his brother.

Eventually he gets found out and it’s not like he was exactly hiding but he also didn’t really want to be seen, mostly because Justin can be sort of scatterbrained.

"This is a closed practice. I have to ask you to leave."

Coach Patrick is standing in front of him, arms crossed looking mildly annoyed. 

"I'm trying to learn."

"Sudden interest?" There's an edge to the man's voice and he gets it. He has a reputation and not a great one, he probably wouldn't want someone like him hanging around either. So instead of getting angry he hums and gives a non commital shrug.

"Well as much as I'd love to help you explore this interest, it's a closed pra-"

"Monty? What are you doing here?" Justin appears standing next to Coach Partick looking at him with big eyes, hopeful but also still somehow doubtful.

"Was in detention, figured I'd watch you play and we could walk back together when you're done."

"Really! That's great, we can stop and get dinner if we have the money!"

"We'll see, that sounds nice. Now go back to practice, Zach'll be lost without you."

Justin trots off back, a wild grin plastered on his face.

"Is this sudden interest in basketball related to my star freshman?"

He doesn't reply immediately, not really sure what the man wants to hear. Justin adores him, 'Coach' is said with more love and respect than 'dad', even when talking about the man scolding him. Finally he answers, "I’ve been to all of the home games this year and still don’t understand this sport. Justin always tries to tell me about it but I never understand. Thought I might come and watch a practice and see what I learn."

He's still watching the team on the court and not the man talking to him and accepts the silence as it stretches on. Coach Patrick must be thinking of what to do and he can deal with that.

"Why doesn’t Justin take shots like the others do?" He doesn’t really expect an answer but it’s confusing to him. Justin’s taken the least number of shots but he’s pretty sure his brother has had the ball for the most amount of time. It’s all spent moving the ball around, seeming to get into position for something only to then pass the ball to someone else.

A grunt and then, "He’s smaller than the others, they’re afraid of fouling him if they play too aggressively against him so he can get around them easier."

A smirk comes to his face; leave it to Justin to find a way to turn a problem into an advantage. 

"Why are you really here?"

He watches as Justin takes a shot and the ball arcs neatly from his hands into the net. He can appreciate the beauty of it in the same way a football sailing from QB to receiver is beautiful.

"Does Justin have what it takes to get a scholarship for basketball?"

"He’s a freshman."

"Does he?"

"He could. It’s early to tell. He’s good and he has talent but he needs to work hard and refine that talent."

"I want to know about basketball. If I don’t I can’t help him."

He feels the man sizing him up before staying, "You can stay here as long as you don’t cause any distractions and provided you keep yourself out of trouble during the day."

He gives a nod and then the man leaves, going back to the players on the court. He doesn’t learn a whole lot from that practice but it’s a start. If he can come for the start he might learn what kind of exercises are good and what muscle groups Justin needs to work. He doubts he’ll ever reach a level where he can help the younger boy practice the sport in a meaningful way, he’d have to catch up to Justin and that probably won’t happen, but he can make sure Justin has someone to do the boring stuff with, all of the muscle toning and exercising and stretching with so he isn’t tempted to skip it. His brother can make the decision about how seriously he wants to pursue basketball later, Monty will just make sure the door is open when he does decide. And anyway, in the meantime he’s going to need to know what the younger boy is talking about post games so he can give proper praise. Justin doesn’t get it from anywhere else in their twisted family, he’s not going to be another person to let the boy down, Justin doesn't need any more of those in his life.

Scott and Justin

Justin wanders over to Scott where the other boy is standing to the side watching a game of beer pong. When Scott offers, he takes a drag of the blunt the other boy is smoking and then coughs. He waves his hand in front of his face while Scott claps him on the back and chuckles.

"That shit is nasty."

"Nah, just not the clean shit Bryce gets but it's cheaper. Anyway, whatcha need, kid? Monty being thick about something?"

"Can't I want to be friends with my brother's best friend?"

Scott looks at him. Monty says that when Scott's high, which is as often as he can afford, the boy thinks he's Plato or something. Justin thinks he should be ready for something profound but instead he gets, "I need a partner, want to play?"

And so he and Scott end up spending the better part of the party putting Jeff and Ramon in their place. Jeff laughs while calling them cheaters, Ramon says Scott being high is unfair because he’s smarter that way and Scott cheerfully informs Ramon that even sober he’s the smarter of the two.

Later, he and Scott are sitting poolside while others mill around them. The party is winding down and if he was a little more sober he’d help with cleaning up but instead he’s content to sit side by side with Scott in long chairs and stare up at the sky, counting the little blips of light that poke through the clouds. He wonders if they like being up there bright and beautiful but alone.

"Thank you."

Scott’s voice cut through his musings and he looks over at the other boy and asks dumbly, "What?"

"Thank you. For everything."

"Shit man, beating Jeff was fun. He’s been so smug about winning the beer pong tournament last month I’d help you beat him again without thanks."

"I used to worry about Monty. He’s been my best friend since middle school, I know him better than anyone but most days that felt like I was a privileged onlooker watching a slow motion car crash with no idea how to help. I could see a crash that everyone else ignored but seeing wasn’t enough and when I tried to get close, he pushed back. I was allowed to watch him die little by little but never allowed to heal any of the pain, most of the time not allowed to call it pain or acknowledge how much he needed healing and I always thought I knew the ending. I wrote an obituary for him, still have it in my bottom drawer. I think tonight I’ll go home and burn it. Thank you, for saving my best friend."

He opens his mouth and closes it a few times not sure what to say because he was prepared at the beginning of this for some of Doctor Scott’s patented Weed Wisdom but this wasn’t what he expected to hear.

Turns out he doesn’t have to say anything though because Monty shows up next to them dangling his car keys. Seeing him Scott cheerfully says, "Oh look, man of the hour."

"What?"

"Nothing, just telling the kid about our first time drinking together when you-"

"Whatever he told you is a lie." Monty cuts in but after a moment his lip quirks up slightly and he continues, "Or he’s reversed which of us did what since I sure as hell didn’t throw up in the bottle while posing with it for a photo."

Scott’s mouth drops in awe for a second followed by, "I thought you forgot about that!"

"Not a chance Scotty, but I haven’t ever needed blackmail material that large."

"If you don’t have proof it didn’t happen."

"Good thing I took a picture on my old phone."

The grin on Monty’s face is massive as poor Scott sputters indignantly but before they can get any further he cuts in, "Wait, I need to hear this story. What happened?" This is something he has to hear, it sounds too funny to not.

"My dad passed out with half a bottle of tequila in his hand one night when Monty was staying over. We were what? Like eleven? Anyway, he was going to end up spilling it all over himself and the couch till Monty and I rescued it and once we had it we decided to sample a little."

"Scott decided to sample. And he gagged after the first sip." Monty lazily ignores the dirty look he gets and continues, "Then he thought I was laughing at him and made me take a sip. Letme tell you Jus, bottom shelf tequila is like straight lighter fluid, that shit is nasty."

"Monty gagged too."

"I made a face, I didn’t gag."

Scott snorts while he tries to keep his laughter down so he can hear the rest.

They’re on the way out to the car as they continue to tell him the story. Monty who’s sober, is at a clear advantage over the very high and pretty drunk Scott and remains one step ahead during the banter but the wild smile on Scott’s face makes it seem the opposite. It isn’t until they reach the car, parked a block and half away that he realizes maybe this is Scott winning, not the banter but something more important and Monty’s laughter mingling with theirs tells him he’s right about this one. It leaves a warm spot in his belly for the rest of the night though he doesn’t really think he can take all the credit. After all Sheri gets Monty to smile easier than he does and lately Scott draws out laughter as often as him. Not that he really cares who caused the change, the important part is it happened and is still happening.

Zach and Monty

He’s attempting to study for his math test when a cookie is pushed across the table to him, still warm from the school’s oven and he can smell the peanut butter coming off of it, not drooling is difficult. Looking up he sees Zach, the tall boy wearing an uncertain, hesitant look that seems pretty common for him.

"Can I sit?"

He waves his hand vaguely and looks back at the page in front of him hating that all the numbers seem to blend together, at least the cookie makes it a little better.

Several minutes pass and the cookie is gone along with his patience for the work. When is he ever going to need to factor anyway? Zach sitting across from him radiating a nervous energy isn’t helping either.

"Is something wrong with Justin?"

The answer is no, Zach would have said so immediately instead of waiting around like this, for as long as the Asian boy will take on saying most things, Justin in trouble isn’t one of them.

"No-I umm I thought we could talk."

"We are."

He watches the other boy open and close his mouth a few times before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath and saying more forcefully, "You’re my best friend's brother and I want to know the Monty Justin talks about."

He raises an eyebrow.

"The Monty Justin talks about is funny and nice and smart and a good friend and brother but-"

"Justin can make Bryce sound like a good friend."

Zach blushes and looks around to make sure no one else hears before saying, "You’re not Bryce."

"You’re right, I’m not rich."

An exasperated sigh. "Monty-"

"Zach."

"I’ve known all of you for two years. You’re not like Bryce, you don’t mock Justin for sport. Never."

He stays silent because there isn't much to say, being better than Bryce just entails maybe having a soul and the silence seems to make Zach squirm a little but the other boy obviously has something he’s thinking of saying and eventually comes out with, "I think maybe you try to make yourself unlikeable."

He snorts. "Why would I do that?"

Zach ducks his head and mumbles, "No. you’re right. Sorry."

Zach gets up to leave but when he blinks he swears he sees Justin watching him with sad eyes. He bites his tongue for a moment and tastes blood before saying, "The Zach Justin talks about can move mountains to help a friend and make a room light up."

The taller boy spins around and a dark blush is settling onto his cheeks and ears but he mumbles a shy, "Thanks."

Taking a deep breath he says, "I’m nothing like Justin. I’m not a very good friend or a fun person to be around but if you really want to-"

He stops mid sentence and the stupid smile that comes across Zach’s face reminds him painfully of Justin’s and he’s never been so happy for a bell in his entire life. This doesn’t seem like a good idea but he’s committed now and if Zach is as similar to Justin as that smile made him think, disappointing him is going to be painful. Maybe he can convince Justin to never leave him alone with Zach so there’s always a buffer...or always bring Scott.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And welcome to the next chapter. Thankfully I keep a bank of these made because I had a pretty full week. That said, these sections have been written for months, I just haven't had put them out. Scott and Justin spend a lot of time together but I feel like Justin would consider Scott as Monty's friend early in their relationship and try to fix that early on. Meanwhile Zach would want to have a good relationship with Monty just because of how much Justin loves Monty. The first scene was just something I had on my mind and decided to write.
> 
> Next week I have a 1st ever from me, a chapter written from Amber's POV so get ready for a wild ride. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below! A big thank you to De_La_Cruz87 for her help beta reading

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to a new story! I started writing this months ago when I needed a break from the Call and I've been on the fence about posting it but decided to take the plunge and see what people think. Obviously this is an AU story, canon doesn't hold much enjoyment for me, so don't expect events from the show to happen. I have a vague notion of what I want to do with the story as a whole but expect a lot of it to be episodic.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below and if you're interested in reading more!


End file.
